


Life Is Never That Simple

by acaciarosemasen



Series: Life Is Never That Simple [1]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gen, OCs - Freeform, Teen Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-30
Updated: 2019-09-19
Packaged: 2019-12-27 01:26:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 23,962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18294038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acaciarosemasen/pseuds/acaciarosemasen
Summary: Bella Swan and Jasper Whitlock have been best friends since they were babies. They would do anything for each other. Even pretend they're dating? It seems so! Things are going to get out of hand fast, though. Edward and Alice Cullen's arrival in Forks is just the icing on the cake!





	1. Jasper

 “Hey Bella, wait up!” I turned around to see one of my friends, Jessica Stanley, running towards me from the other end of the hall. I stopped to give her time to catch up. “Jess” is what we called her because nobody, except her mother ever called her Jessica – and the occasional teacher. She was about 5’1”, had blue eyes with wild, curly, black hair that definitely made up for the height difference.

“Hi, did you do the Algebra 2 homework from last night?” was of course the first thing out of her mouth once she had reached me.

“Yes I did, but isn’t that the question I should be asking you?” I retorted.

“Maybe…”

“Jess!  You didn’t do the homework did you?”  Jess had always hated math, which explained why she was always trying to bring up her grades in that particular class.

“I just don’t get it!” she exclaimed – a bit too loudly and earned us a couple of stares by some of the other students rushing to get to their first period class.

“Jess, you know that Angie and I will help you, right? We’re not going to let you fall behind and fail! Especially, since it is only the second week of school!”

“Thanks Bella.  I just really don’t like anything that has to do with math!”

“I know!  You say that all the time!” I reminded her. Just then the warning bell rang telling us class would start in five minutes.

My morning classes all seemed to go by pretty quickly, like one big flowing blur. It seemed different today, for some reason but I couldn’t place why. Perhaps I was just anxious for the weekend to come. Of course it was only still Thursday but whatever. Soon enough it was time for lunch. 

I was walking to my usual table with my best friend, since we were in diapers, Jasper Whitlock. Jasper’s parents were friends with my parents since high school and all throughout college. So it was only natural that when my mom and Bianca, Jasper’s mom, got pregnant around the same time that Jasper and I would be the best of friends. Though, we weren’t our parents’ first kids. He was the second child to be born to his parents and I was the third child to be born to mine.

Jasper has blond hair and blue eyes, not too dark but not too light. He was the kind of person that I could go to with whatever was on my mind and tell him how I really felt without worrying about him judging me. I was always that person for him as well. Of course I could never have the same calm façade that he always seems to have. My dad says that I’m the storm and Jasper is the calm before and after.

Jasper and I are really close. Yes, I did love Jasper but not like that. I love him like a brother. He has been my best friend since we were babies, after all. I was protective of him though. You see Jasper has many admirers. There would always be girls following him around, asking him out, and talking to him. It got pretty annoying most of the time. Okay all of the time.

When we reached our table Jasper sat down at the corner and I sat across from him. Lauren Mallory, Kate Denali, and Angela Weber were already sitting at the table.

“Where are Jess, Tanya, and Heidi?” Lauren asked impatiently. She looked frazzled; her long, corn silk, blond hair looked as if she had been running her hands through it.

“They’re probably still getting lunch.” Kate replied calmly.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, but as soon as the words left my mouth I knew I would regret them. Lauren looked up at me with her hazel colored eyes.

“Tyler is just being so… so… ugh!” I should have known. Lauren and Tyler have been dating since the eighth grade, but have had a crush on each other since forever.

“What happened this time?” Tanya Denali asked just now coming up with Heidi Moreau.

“He wants me to spend Thanksgiving with his family this year even though I spent last Thanksgiving with his family!” She exclaimed.

“Why are you even worrying about this now?” I asked. Lauren just looked at me with that hectic crazy look that just makes you want to take a step back and walk away. “Well, what I mean is, is that it’s not even the middle of September yet! School started barely a couple of weeks ago.”

“It’s still important to plan ahead, Bella! Everybody knows that!” Tanya exclaimed jumping into the conversation. I rolled my eyes at her.

“I still say September is too early to plan things like Thanksgiving but whatever.” I could see that Tanya was about to say something to escalate the situation but before she could say anything Jasper came to my rescue, as always, trying to keep the peace.

“Well Bella does have a point.” Which earned him a glare from both Lauren and Tanya, “There’s nothing wrong with planning ahead,” he continued, “but a whole two and a half months ahead?” he questioned.

“I guess it is a little too early to be planning out Thanksgiving.” Lauren amended.

Tanya just pursed her lips, threw her curly strawberry blond hair over her shoulder, and started eating her lunch. That’s when Jess, Tyler Crowley, Mike Newton, and Eric Yorkie came up to the table with their lunches. Looks like the gangs all here, except for Ben Cheney, Angela’s boyfriend. Just as I was about to mention Ben’s absence Jess beat me to it.

“Hey Angela, where’s Ben?”

“He wasn’t feeling well this morning, he texted me earlier saying he wasn’t going to be here today.” She replied while twisting her shoulder length brown hair into a bun. Jess nodded her head and was about to say something when Tanya interrupted her.

“Did you guys hear about the two new students that are going to be coming here on Monday?”

“Yes, I believe everybody knows about that by now, Tanya.  It’s a small town, remember?  Small towns mean no secrets.” I said. Angela chuckled out loud at this. Tanya threw her a look.

 “Well,” Tanya started, “did you know—

“—that their father is taking the position of the head surgeon at the hospital and their mother is an interior designer.” Kate cut in, “we also know that they are both juniors and fraternal twins.” Tanya looked upset that we had taken all of the good news away from her. I looked over to Jasper and said, “Do you wanna tell or can I?”

“Well your parents found out first, I think it’s only fair that you tell them.”

“Ok cool.”  I turned to everyone else who looked very curious right about now.  “So my parents found out that the new students have lived in Italy for the past five years.”

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Lauren said.

“Have you guys ever met them?” Angela asked. Both Jasper and I shook our heads. We were both Italian and had been to many parts of Italy over the past seventeen years of our lives. But I don’t think we have ever met them before.

Then before I knew it the bell rang. Time for some more torture—I was thinking of my chemistry test coming up in fifth period. Surprisingly though, fifth and sixth period – the last two classes of the day – went by pretty quickly.

“Seriously what is Tanya’s problem?” I found myself asking Jasper after school once we were in the safety of his 4x4. “I mean it’s like every chance she can get she tries putting people down, ganging up on someone or she just has to know your personal business so she can go around and tell everyone she knows!”

“She’s just jealous.”

“Jealous of what?”  I questioned. He just shrugged his shoulders. “Seriously though, she tries to be best friends with Lauren, Heidi, and Jess. But when it comes to Victoria, Angela, Jane, and Kate – her own sister — and me she’s just impossible!”

“Well we all know she never liked Angela from the start. She doesn’t like Jane because her brother, Alec, turned her down because he had a crush on Kate back then. It’s the reason why she doesn’t even like her own sister. Which is a shame in and of itself. She doesn’t like Victoria because she is your sister and she doesn’t like you because… well… you know I don’t really know why she dislikes you.”  He said.  I could see his eyebrows knit together in confusion. I sucked in a deep breath of air and slowly let it out.

The truth was I did know why Tanya disliked me.  It was only a few years ago when we were freshmen. Jasper had started getting, well basically love notes in his locker and he told me about them. In reality, he had no clue who had sent them. Neither did I, at the time.

It was only a couple months later Tanya was telling all of us girls that she had a serious crush on some guy but wouldn’t tell us who the guy was.  Then it grew more of into an obsession with her and all the guys knew of her crush.  She talked of nothing but him most of all the time.  We all ended up feeling sorry for this guy—whoever he was…

Then one day I was passing the hallway where Jasper’s locker was located. Who do I see but Tanya stuffing a note into Jasper’s locker. Once she left I quickly unlocked it – easy enough to do since I knew Jasper’s locker combo. The note was right on top. I grabbed it, closed his locker, and left for my next class.

Now what did I do to possibly make Tanya hate me so much? I confronted her. Basically though, I told her flat out that Jasper wasn’t interested in her and probably never would be. Cold? Yes.  Necessary? Definitely. I couldn’t have my best friend going out with Tanya of all people. She just liked to play games with people and mess with their feelings. The notes soon stopped after that. The only bad thing was that she was still obsessed with Jasper.

“Do I even want to know?” Jasper asked, breaking me out of my reverie.

“No, no you don’t.” I said quietly.  I knew he wouldn’t ask — for the time being anyways.


	2. Friday

“Friday at last,” Kate exclaimed. I looked at her with my eyebrow raised. “What? We can’t all hate Fridays with a passion like you do, Bella.”

I know; everybody loves Fridays. I’ve never met a person — other than myself, but I don’t count apparently — who hates Fridays. But there is a perfectly good reason as to why I hate Fridays. And here he comes.

Felix Volturi sauntered over to Kate and me. “Hello Bella, Kate.” He acknowledged.

“Hi Felix.” We both replied.

“So Bella, I heard some very interesting things lately.”

“Oh yeah, and what’s that?”

“Well I heard my parents discussing with your parents that they really wanted you to go with me to the homecoming dance in two weeks.” He said smugly.

“Well too bad because I’m not going to the dance at all.” I said. Honestly though, I couldn’t believe my ears. I was seriously hoping this was a joke.

“Hmm… that’s going to be hard to explain to your mother and father don’t you think?”

“They’re just going to have to accept it because I’m not going with you; I’m not going at all.”

“We’ll just see about that!” Felix said smugly. Now, I’m normally not a violent person but right then, right then I wanted to punch him.

“Yeah we _will_ just see.” I said through my teeth. I turned on my heel and walked away with Kate hurriedly following after me. Once we were around the corner, I turned on my heel to face her, causing Kate to pull up short, and said, “That’s why I hate Fridays.”

“I see.” She replied. Just then Lauren and Angela came up and told us if we didn’t hurry, we would be late to English. We made it to class on time and our teacher, Mr. Phillips, told us that we would have to write an essay of our own topic and that we should start it today since it was due Tuesday.

That was fine with me. It gave me more time to think about what had just happened. It was no secret to me that my mother wanted me to date my best friend — Jasper — but that was and is impossible because I don’t even like him like that. Which I told her. She was seriously upset that I told her I could never picture myself with Jasper like that. But she got over it. Now she pictures me with Felix — her future son-in-law. Not! Never in a million years will that ever happen. Felix can be such a jerk sometimes. He thinks he’s too good for some people and he only hangs out with the “A-listers” of this school.

I was still in deep thought when Angela came over.

“So what are you writing your essay on?”

“Huh,” I forgot that that is what we were supposed to be doing. “Oh, I’m not sure yet about what I’m going to write about.”

“Bella! Class is already over and you don’t even have your ideas written down on your paper.”

I looked down at my watch then up at our classmates as they headed out the door and I had yet to even leave my seat. I jumped up and started throwing things in my backpack. We quickly left saying a goodbye to Mr. Phillips and headed to the lunchroom.

“Bella,” Angela said, stopping me from going inside. “What happened that’s got you so out of it right now?” She could see me hesitate so she continued, “Look if I just noticed, and I’ve been told I’m a good observer, and I’m standing right next to you then Jasper is going to notice from across the cafeteria. So would you like to talk about it?”

“Okay, so before you and Lauren came up and told us that we were going to be late for English, Felix told me that he overheard my parents and his talking about the two of us going to Homecoming together.”

“Wow!”

“Wow?” I questioned.

“What I meant was ‘that’s horrible!’”

“I know and I’m surely going to hear about it tonight.”

“Oh right. You hate Fridays simply because of Friday night dinners with not only your family and Jasper’s family but it’s also with the Volturi’s—Felix’s family.”

“Exactly the reason why I hate Fridays.”

“It will be okay you know. Your parents can’t force you to go to the homecoming dance. If I were them I would force you to go to prom though.” She teased me.

“Eww!”

“Eww? Oh, come on Bella! Its prom! How can you say ‘Eww’ to prom?”

“Simple, I can’t dance so what’s the point?”

“Bella Swan you are simply…one of a kind! Let’s go, I’m hungry.”

“Fine, fine.” We entered the cafeteria and got into line to buy some lunch. When we got to the table Angela went to sit by Ben as always. I went and sat across from Jasper and next to Kate.

“Hey, what took so long?” Jasper asked.

“Nothing, Angie and I were just talking.” He seemed to think it was more but didn’t ask me anything else because right at that moment Tanya came up.

“I can’t wait for homecoming!” I stared at her incredulously. _Why did she have to bring up homecoming?_

“Homecoming is two weeks away.” Kate said, stating the obvious.

“Exactly! Only two weeks away! You have to have time to buy your dress, matching shoes, the right make-up and all of that.”

“You also have to have a date,” Kate retorted. “So who are you going with? I’m assuming you asked someone or someone asked you, that’s why you are telling us this?”

“Well actually I was thinking of asking Felix,” she was looking directly at me and I froze. “That is unless you know he’s already got someone to go with, Bella?” That’s when I snapped. I had had enough. It was one of those moments that when you look back at them, you can just see the train wreck coming. The moment where you want to pause and rewind and take a different course of action.

“No, he doesn’t have someone to go with, I on the other hand do, have someone to go with that is.”

At this point every one of the guys were looking confused while Kate and Angela looked at me with raised eyebrows.

“Who?!” Tanya, Angela, Jess, Kate, Lauren, and Heidi asked at the same time. I threw a quick glance to Jasper. I managed to catch his eyes and he seemed to understand the pleading in my eyes. I looked straight at Tanya. She had her eyes narrowed and you could tell that she was mad.

“My boyfriend.” I said calmly with—I hoped—an air of indifference, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Inside I was a mess. How could I just say it like that? Jasper is going to kill me. I managed to look back at Jasper. His face was calm, but his eyes were—not unsure—just cautious. He was trying to make sure that I was really sure about what I was doing. Either that or he was thinking of the best way to get me into a psych ward.

I gave the slightest nod of my head-yes. He nodded in return.

Thankfully, nobody noticed this little exchange between the two of us. They were still reeling over the face that I said I was going with my boyfriend. Which they obviously didn’t know that I had one. Which I didn’t, have a boyfriend that is.

“Who’s your boyfriend? You never told us that you had one.” Tanya looked slightly relieved—like she found a flaw in my story.

“Well we were going to see how this worked out before we told anyone but I guess now there’s no need to wait.” Jasper said getting up and walking around to my side of the table. He stood behind me and put his hands lightly on my shoulders. Everyone’s curious and confused eyes quickly turned to shock and surprise.

“You,” Tanya said, pointing to Jasper, “Are going out with her!” She then said pointing to me. I felt a little insulted. I knew I wasn’t super pretty, I thought I was rather plain looking. But still!

“Yes, I am.” Jazz replied.

“I knew it!” Mike exclaimed quickly getting over his shock. Jess raised her eyebrows at him.

“How did you know it?”

“I always knew they were going to end up secretly dating behind our backs.” He exclaimed. Ben looked at us, back and forth.

“So when exactly did you two start secretly dating?”

“About two weeks ago,” Jasper said, “like I said before, we wanted to wait awhile before telling anyone because we didn’t want you guys to make a big deal out of it. You’ve teased us a lot growing up, if I do recall correctly, about how we should date each other.” I just nodded my head at the rest of them. “We also didn’t want to say anything because if it didn’t work out then all of you would probably be more upset and disappointed about this than we would.”

“Don’t even try to deny that.” I warned, “All of you would have probably made it more awkward as well.”

Jasper and I could see they were about to bombard us with questions but thankfully we were ‘saved by the bell’ excuse the cliché. For once I was actually happy that I had to hurry off to my Chemistry class—and that I didn’t have any of my friends in this particular class. I was—not happy—but relieved that Jasper went along with this crazy twisted plan.

In Chem, we had to do a lab so I really had to focus on the task at hand—especially since I had no lab partner. There were an odd number of people in this class and I was the unlucky one to end up with no partner. I didn’t mind though—I liked working on my own and I found that I finished faster than all the others when I didn’t have to wait for someone else. Even so, as class was coming to an end, I dreaded PE. Why? PE was the only class that the whole gang had together. Yup, in PE they would surely ask us about everything. This was so not good.

Outside of my class I was surprised to see Jasper leaning against the wall just right outside the door.

“Hey? What are you doing here?”

“Isn’t it customary or traditional or whatever for a guy to walk his girlfriend to class?”

“Umm…yeah, I guess,” I mumbled. “Listen I—

I heard him sigh.

“Let’s talk after school. Okay?”

“Okay.” I replied.

Gym was horrible. Not just because I hate all forms of sports naturally. Only because when we got there everybody started to ask us questions. When we had to go change in the locker room Lauren and Jess kept spitting questions at me. Simple enough but Tanya was just brutal. She would ask complicated stuff all the while glaring at me. I was actually afraid she might burn me with that look on her face. When we got out of there, we met up with the guys. I thought they would question me less. Boy was I wrong. They questioned me more. They were like little old ladies gossiping by the produce. But worse. I kept throwing Jasper apologetic glances all throughout PE when no one was looking.

PE was finally over. Which meant school was finally over. This also meant I had a twenty minute care ride home with Jasper.

I changed slowly back into my regular school clothes when I was finally done everyone was still waiting for me.

“You guys didn’t have to wait for me.”

“Well we weren’t done with our questions.” Lauren said.

“Hmm… well you waited in vain because Jasper and I have Friday night dinner to get to.” Before they could say anything else I quickly left them in front of the school and made my way over to Jasper’s truck. I quickly got into the passenger seat. It was quiet. He didn’t say anything for the first couple of minutes during the drive. Then he sighed.

“What exactly happened between you and Felix today?” I was confused; this wasn’t what I was expecting him to ask about. But I answered nonetheless.

“He told me that my mom and dad and his parents had decided that they were going to make us—Felix and I—go to homecoming together.”

“Homecoming? In two weeks?”

“Yeah, it’s exactly two weeks from this Friday, today.”

“Well, I guess I won’t have to worry about the usual group of girls that surrounds me the week before the dance, in hopes that I will take one of them to the dance with me.”

“So you’re gonna pretend to be my boyfriend? For the next two weeks? Just so I won’t have to go to Homecoming with Felix?” I couldn’t believe that he was actually going to do this for me.

“Yes, but,” he threw a quick glance at me before turning his gaze back towards the road. “You owe me. Big time. Deal?”

“Deal.” I smiled; “You’re the best, best friend I have ever had!” he just scoffed at this.

“I’m the only best friend you ever had!”

“Which is why you are the best!” I smiled.


	3. Still Friday

We usually had dinner at one of our houses. This Friday it was at my house. Jasper pulled his truck into the driveway of his house—which was right next door. We both got out slowly.

“How exactly are we going to tell everybody?” Jasper asked me.

“Honestly, I have no clue. My mother and Mrs. Volturi will probably bring it up though. When they do I guess, we could intervene…”

“Okay then, sounds like a plan.” He sounded apprehensive.

“Jazzy,” I started with the name that I used to call him when we were little; “we don’t have to do this.”

“We already told our friends, might as well tell our families. We can do this for a couple of weeks.”

“More like we just lied to our friends, now let’s go lie to our families.” I retorted. Jasper just shook his head at me.

“Come on, let’s go.” He said.

I looked at my silver bracelet-watch and saw that it was twenty minutes to five. Dinner started at a quarter to six but we were always expected to show up at five. We walked across our lawns and I pulled out my keys and opened the front door. I didn’t bother with dropping my backpack in the foyer because knowing my mother she would just yell at me to come pick it up. No one was in the living room, so we made our way up to my bedroom on the second floor. I dumped my stuff by my closet and turned to face Jasper who was sitting on one of my overstuffed bean bag chairs.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am absolutely sure. It’s a win-win situation.” He stated.

“Oh really. How?”

“You don’t get to go with Felix. I don’t have to go with some random girl and you now owe me big time.”

“Well in your case, it’s a win-win-win situation. Since two of the wins in the three-win situation are for you I guess that makes you happier than me.”

 “Yup, pretty much.” He chuckled. I rolled my eyes. Then the doorbell rang. They were already starting to arrive.

“Come on, lets go.” We left my bedroom and went down stairs.

Dinner was starting off as it always had before. Dad, Giovanni (Jasper’s dad), and Aro (Mr. Volturi) were watching whatever game they could find on the television. Mom, Bianca (Jasper’s mom), and Sulpicia (Mrs. Volturi) were in the kitchen making sure everything was ready. Felix was probably on his phone somewhere. My younger sister, Olivia, and Jasper’s younger sister, Caterina, were in the den discussing the latest Hollywood gossip. At fourteen years old they were way too obsessed with other people’s lives and their hair and looks.

Jasper and I made our way onto the patio where Jane and Alec were.

“Hey guys! What’s up?” Jane greeted cheerfully from the patio lounge chair she was laying on.

“Nothing much. Just another Friday.” I replied. I turned towards Alec who was sitting on the patio chair by the table, notebook and pen in hand. “How do you think you did on that History test Johnson gave us?”

He shrugged his shoulders, “I know I did well on the multiple choice but the short answer questions threw me off.”

“Yup,” I quickly agreed with him, “but I bet Jazz gets an A+.” he nodded his head in agreement. He didn’t have History class with Jasper but he knew that Jasper was a big History buff.

“So, I hear that you two have finally started to date each other.” Jane chimed in. My eyes, as well as Jasper’s went wide. I can’t believe she has already heard about this.

“Who told you?” Jasper questioned.

“Wait, you two are dating?!” Alec questioned, dropping his pen.

Jane ignored her twin brother, “No one told me—though I’m upset about that. I overheard Tanya and Lauren talking about it in art class today.”

“Well, yes, we are going out. We have been for the past two weeks.” I answered her.

“Wow. First Em and Rose, now you and Jazz!” she said.

Emmett is my older brother. He’s eighteen and a senior. He has mahogany colored brown hair like I do but blue eyes like Victoria and Olivia do. He’s been going out with Rosalie—or Rose as only her family and friends call her—Jasper’s older sister, since their freshmen year. Unlike us, all the Whitlock children have blond hair and blue eyes (though the shades of blond and blue varied). Anyway, they were always hanging out together in elementary and middle school. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time. They were never like most couples at our school though. They were never the on-again-off-again type. Sure, sometimes they argued about what movie they were going to see and other stuff like that but they always figured out a compromise.

Speaking of Emmett and Rose, I forgot they wouldn’t be joining us for Friday night dinner tonight because it was their three-year anniversary. Emmett was taking her to the restaurant where they had their first date.

“Yeah,” Jasper said, “Just like Emmett and Rose.”

“I think it’s great. You two could be really good together.” I just nodded. I was about to ask her if Felix knew about Jazz and me but my mom called me in to help her with setting the table. I told them I would be right back and went inside to where my mom’s voice was coming from in the kitchen.

“Yes mom? What can I help you with?” I asked.

“Well you can start by setting the table please.”

“Of course, by the way, what are we having tonight?” I was making small talk, because the lord knew my mom and I never really talked or had heart-to-heart conversations. Our relationship consisted of small talk and our numerous arguments over every little thing. My relationship with my dad was totally the opposite though. He was the parent that I went to if I had a problem or something I really needed to get off my chest.

“Well I was talking with Bianca and Sulpicia and it seems we haven’t had lasagna in a while so I thought some home-made lasagna with a fresh César salad and of course dessert would be good don’t you think?” I just nodded my head and started pulling out some glasses and the silverware.

Once I had the table all set I wandered back outside. Jasper was still there with Jane and Alec, along with our sisters and Felix.

“Is it true?!” was the first thing out of Olivia’s mouth as soon as I walked out there.

“Is what true?” I responded but I had a feeling I already knew what she was talking about. I looked over at Jasper and he gave me an apologetic look.

“Jane, Alec, and Jasper were talking and we overheard them. I thought you said that you and Jasper were best friends. That you two wouldn’t date.”

“Oh that…” what a great response don’t you think?

“Yes, so is it true?” she asked again. I was suddenly very aware of everybody out on the patio. I could see the apprehension in Olivia, Caterina, and even in Felix. I sucked in a big breath of air and slowly let it out.

“Yeah, it’s true. Jazz and I are going out.”

“How long have you two been going out?!” was the response that came from Caterina.

“Two weeks.” Jasper said, for the first time contributing to the conversation since I came back outside.

“I don’t believe this!” Felix exclaimed. I was expecting him to say something soon. It would be weird if he hadn’t.

“Well believe it, because we are going out.” Jasper replied. I was suddenly aware that other sets of eyes were watching us. I slowly turned around to see my mother, Sulpicia, Bianca, and Victoria just standing there looking at the seven of us.

“So…how much of that conversation did you hear?” I asked them.

Bianca was the first to speak; “Just when Felix said he couldn’t believe it and then what my son said about going out with someone…” she trailed off while cocking her head to the right, now looking at her son. I looked back at Jasper. We both knew that it was now or never. For the second time, I pulled in a deep breath and let it out. I walked over, next to where Jasper was standing and he put his arm around my shoulder and with a very calm voice said, “Well mom, Renée,” he started, “Sulpicia, Victoria,” he acknowledged, “Bella and I have been dating for the past two weeks. We didn’t know what all of you would say so we kept it to ourselves but we decided to tell you and everybody else today.”

It was quiet. Nobody spoke a word. We were all sort of frozen, waiting to see what they would say. Finally, the silence was broken but not by our mothers but by our fathers. And I thought this couldn’t get any worse. My dad, Giovanni, and Aro came out onto the porch. Aro was the first to speak.

“What’s going on out here?”

“Ask Jasper and Bella.” My mother said. I couldn’t really tell because she still seemed to be in shock but she sounded kind of…mad…maybe… My father and the rest of them looked at Jasper with his arm around me.

“What’s going on Bella?” my father questioned. He was kind of going into cop mode. This could be good or bad. Though I wasn’t really sure how this could be good. I was probably dead were I stood.

“Well, daddy, you see Jazz and I have been going out for the past two weeks and we were going to tell all of you tonight at dinner but then Felix, Olivia, and Caterina overheard Jazz, Jane, and Alec talking and then mom and the rest of them over heard Jazz saying to Felix that we were going out… and yeah…” I stopped because I knew I was just prolonging my explanation and I was out of breath. It was silent once again. Everyone was now looking back and forth between our mothers and fathers. Surprisingly it was Victoria who broke the silence.

“So, Bella, Jazz, are you two going to Homecoming together?”

“Jasper asked me to go with him on Tuesday.” I said before Jasper could. Out of the corner of my eye I saw him nod his head in agreement.

“You know, Rose and I are going dress shopping on Sunday. You should come with us.” I immediately knew what Victoria was trying to do. She was letting my parents as well as everyone else get used to the idea of Jasper and I going out together. It was also her way of making sure she got a whole day with me so that she and Rose could get all the details.

“Sure, why not.” I murmured. I meant it as a rhetorical question but that’s when my mom decided she would have some say in the whole matter of her daughter dating her best friend’s son.

“Why not? I’ll tell you why not! Because we already decided to have you go with Felix and we were going to suggest that Jasper take Jane to homecoming. It would ruin all of our plans if you went with Jasper.”

Well I for one couldn’t believe that she just said that. Who did she think she was?

“Mom, I’m going with Jasper. He happens to be my boyfriend and I want to go with him. It would be odd if I show up to homecoming with some guy who’s not my boyfriend. What would my friends say?”

“You already told your friends?”

“We told them today at lunch.” Jasper said.

My mother looked at Jasper then back to me.

“Renée!” my father decided to intervene. “I’m not going to lie to you,” he said turning to face us, “I’m not happy that you kept this to yourselves for two weeks. However, I have no problem with the two of you dating. Now why don’t we go on inside and eat before the lasagna gets cold.” It wasn’t a question that much we were sure of. With that my dad turned around and went back inside our house followed by Giovanni and Bianca. I guess, to them, it was okay that Jazz and I were dating. Pretty soon everyone was following them inside. Except my mom and Sulpicia. I’m sure they were talking about how they were going to try and get me and Felix to go to the dance together.

It was about five minutes later before my mom and Sulpicia came back inside. I swear my mother is completely impossible. Dinner was a quiet affair with small talk about school and work being the only thing mentioned. No one really knew what to say. After dinner, we had dessert. Usually after dinner we hung around to talk. I caught Jasper’s eye and was hoping he understood that I wanted to make a break for it. We quickly made it out of the living room and went to my room. Once we safely made it there I shut my door and turned to face him.

“I’m so sorry Jazz!” was the first thing out of my mouth. “I can’t believe my mother is being like this. First, she wants me to go out with you then when I tell her we’re just friends she is upset but then tries to set me up with Felix! Now when I tell her that you and I are dating—like she wanted in the first place—she wants me to go to the dance with Felix! I can’t keep up with her!” I fell backward onto my bed so I was now looking at my glow-in-the-dark stars that Emmett had helped me put up years ago.

“Bella, look, I know that your mom can be—

“Impossible? Unbelievable? Mean? Not understanding? Take your pick but I think she’s all of those!”

“I was going to say set in her ways and doesn’t like when others change her plans, but she will come around.”

“What happens when she does come around and after homecoming we break up? Then what happens? She might be angry but she will continue trying to set me up with Felix.”

He just shrugged his shoulders. “We’ll see what happens when we get there. But for now, let’s just concentrate on pulling this off. Okay?”

“Okay. Fine. You’re right. As always.”

He smiled and said, “of course, otherwise, I wouldn’t be right all the time!” for that I had to laugh. It was something we always used to say when we were kids.

“We should go back downstairs.” Jasper reminded me. I nodded as I heaved myself off my bed. We exited my room and went down stairs to see that everything was pretty much the same.

Except for the fact that my mom and Bianca were now glaring at each other. This wasn’t something we saw at all. My mom and Bianca had been best friends since childhood. Sure, they must have gotten into fights whey they were younger but we never saw them fight now.

“What’s going on here?” Jasper asked.

Olivia looked up at us with wide eyes and said, “Mom insists that for Homecoming you should take Jane and that Felix should take Bella.”

 “You know what? I don’t even want to go to Homecoming. But I am. And why is that? It’s because Jasper asked me to go with him. And because Jasper happens to be my boyfriend, so of course I am going to go with him. But you know what? Maybe we’ll just skip Homecoming and go see a movie. What do you think Jazz?”

“I don’t really care what we do. But a movie sounds pretty good right now.”

“The new _Harry Potter_ Movie coming out in a week?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Cool, that’s settled then.” I turned towards Jane and Alec. “Unless, you two would like to join us?”

“Can I bring Archer?” Jane asked, quietly. In turn I raised an eyebrow and gave her a smug look.

“I don’t see why not. But, uh, when did you two make it official?”

“Well, Bells, we beat you and Jazz. We’ve been dating for the past three weeks.” She admitted. My mouth dropped open.

“Really?”

“Yup.” She said, popping the “p”. Jasper shook his head beside me.

“I can’t believe that he didn’t tell me!”

“Probably for the same reason you didn’t tell him about us.” I reminded him.

“True.”

“So, on the night of homecoming the four of us are going to the movies?” Jane clarified.

“Unless Alec would like to join us…”

“Sorry guys but I got me a date to Homecoming. Do me a favor and don’t spoil the movie for me, though, okay?”

“Okay, no problem.”

Giovanni and Bianca saw this as a good time to leave and head home.

“Its getting late we really should get home. Come on Jasper, Caterina.”

“Don’t forget tomorrow the Cullens are going to be here and we promised them we’d help them unpack and Jasper and Bella are supposed to show their kids around town.” Bianca reminded us. They were walking to the door and Jasper moved so that he was in front of me.

“Guess, I’ll see you tomorrow.” He said. I could see he was hesitating and then he kissed me on my cheek, turned around and was out the door before I could say good-bye. I felt everyone’s eyes on me and the familiar blush was beginning to creep up onto my face. I had to get out of here and out of here fast.

“Guess, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I told them, quoting what Jasper had said not even a minute ago. I turned and dashed up the stairs back to my room and closed the door behind me. This has truly been the longest Friday of my entire life. I started getting ready for bed. As I was doing this I started to think about everything that had happened today. It was truly crazy.

I was drifting off to sleep when suddenly a boy’s face with auburn—or maybe it was bronze—colored hair and dark forest green eyes popped into my head. He looked familiar but I couldn’t place him. I was too tired to even try.


	4. Surprise, Surprise

I woke as I usually did to my alarm clock going off. With a groan I shut it off. I remembered that the Cullens would be arriving at seven and we were to meet them at their new house at ten. At least Jasper and I wouldn’t have to help unpack much of the stuff because we would be showing the Cullen twins around. I couldn’t wait to meet them. It was exciting to get some fresh new faces in this small town of ours.

It was cool that nobody knew they were arriving today. Everyone in town, including our friends, thought they were arriving on Sunday evening.

I quickly got out of bed and grabbed my bag of toiletries off of my dresser to go take a shower before Victoria or Olivia could beat me to it. That was the thing about our house, it had five bedrooms (three upstairs and two downstairs) and it had three full bathrooms. You would think that was great but two of those bathrooms are downstairs. My parents have a bedroom downstairs with a connecting bathroom. Emmett’s bedroom is also downstairs so he uses the bathroom on the first floor. My sisters and I all have a bedroom on the second floor and there is only one bathroom on this floor so we share it. Common rule: Whoever gets there first gets the bathroom. Just as I was about to go open my door it was opened for me. Emmett burst into my room.

“Haven’t you ever heard of knocking?!” I was going to continue with ranting at him but Emmett, my big brother, just looked so confused and lost. Maybe he heard about Jasper and me. It was silent as I got up and shut the door to my room and locked it. Emmett just kept up his pacing. Finally I had to ask.

“Em, what’s wrong?” He stopped, looked at me, paced a few more steps and finally opened his mouth.

“I don’t even know where to start.”

“How about you start at the beginning?”

“Too long of a story…” he trailed off.

“Emmett! Just tell me what in the world is wrong! Otherwise I can’t help you!”

“Rose is pregnant!” he said. I just stood there in shock looking at my 18-year-old brother, processing what he just told me. His girlfriend of three years was pregnant. How was I supposed to react to that?!

“If our parents don’t kill you and Rose’s parents don’t kill you, then Jasper definitely will.”

“I know! I just don’t understand how this could have happened!”

“Well… umm…you took Health in freshmen year. When a girl and a guy happen to become sexually active—

“I know that part! Gosh Bella! I meant we used protection!”

“Any chance the… condom… might have broken?” this felt so weird talking to my brother of all people about this.

“I don’t know! I didn’t check! Should I have checked? Oh God! I’m so dead!”

“Em! Calm down! This is all going to work out for the best. And keep it down! I do share this floor with Victoria and Olivia!”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about them…”

“Speaking of which… Why didn’t you go and tell Victoria you got Rose pregnant? She is your twin.”

Now that was something that was out of the ordinary. He and Victoria were really close. They had the same cobalt blue colored eyes and that was the only thing—physically—that they shared. As I mentioned before Emmett had the same mahogany colored hair as Olivia and me but Victoria had bright red curly hair. The curly hair trait came from my father but the red hair trait came from our paternal grandmother.

“Well… Tori and I are kind of on the outs right now. But that’s a different story. What am I supposed to do? Rose told me last night on our date. She said she hadn’t told anyone yet. Just the two of us—and now you know.”

Okay so let’s review. Emmett got Rose pregnant. Emmett and Victoria are fighting about something or the other. Nobody but the three of us knows Rose is pregnant. And Emmett wants my help! I have no clue of what to do. Then an instant thought came to my head. We were to help the Cullens move in today.

“Em, for now I think you and Rose should just keep quiet about the pregnancy. At least for the weekend because we are going to have to help the Cullens move in. On that note, tell Rose she should probably stay home and act sick because heavy lifting is bad when a woman is pregnant. It can harm the baby,” as I said this last part a look of worry and alarm passed over his face. “And I think you and Rose should really talk about your options.” He was about to open his mouth but I cut him off.

“I know the both of you are against abortion. Your other options are keeping the baby or giving it up for adoption. If you need any help or input with those decisions I guess I can lend a hand. But for now…

“I think keeping this between the three of us is a good idea. The less people who know the easier it will be to keep the secret until we have time to tell our parents.” Emmett was cringing just thinking of having to tell them.

He looked back up to me, “Thank-you Bella! For a kid you don’t give such bad advice.”

“Hey! I just turned seventeen a few weeks ago!”

“Sure sure. I better go call Rose.” He came over and gave me a hug which I returned and then he left my room. I quickly grabbed my toiletries bag—again—along with my clothes for the day to see if I still had a chance at getting the bathroom. Luck was with me. Neither Victoria nor Olivia were even up yet.

As I took a shower my thoughts were a jumbled mess.

_How my brother could be having his first child at eighteen… The Cullens were moving in today… Jasper and I had to keep up the charade that we were going out… Not to mention that guy’s face that kept recurring in my dreams last night…_

_It was strange… I felt like I actually knew him from somewhere but I couldn’t put my finger on it. I felt like I should remember him. That it was important. He was important._

About half of an hour later and incessant pounding on the bathroom door courtesy of my sisters; I was showered, dressed, and waiting for Jasper to pick me up so we could head over to the new family’s house. I was munching on a breakfast muffin when my parents and Emmett came in.

“So,” Emmett started, “Rose called and said she couldn’t come and help. Something about a pounding headache, probably a migraine.” He sounded really worried.

“Oh that’s too bad.” Our dad replied.

“Yes, too bad.” Mom agreed. She turned to me and I knew what was coming.

“Bella, really, do we have to go through this song and dance? Just go to the dance with Felix. You said yourself you could not see Jasper and yourself as a couple and now is not the time to experiment with that.”

“Mom I’m not going with Felix! Jasper is my boyfriend—

As soon as the words left my mouth my brother started to choke on the breakfast muffin he was chowing down on.

“What?!” he started once he got his throat cleared. “You and Jasper? When did this happen?”

“Two weeks ago! They kept it a secret for two weeks!” our mother replied for me. Emmett was silent for a couple of minutes, shook his head and then mumbled something that sounded like _‘figures’_. There was a distinct sound of a truck honking.

“Well that’s for me. Jasper and I are going to show the Cullen kids around while it’s still early and hopefully the locals are still sleeping in on this cloudy Saturday morning.” Our mom just turned away to make her coffee, Emmett continued to eat his breakfast muffin, while our dad reached for a breakfast muffin himself, “Okay see you around noon.”

I slipped out of the house and opened the passenger door of Jasper’s truck.

“Morning,” he said, “so how’s your mom today?  Any better than last night?”

“Nope. She just tried to convince me not to ‘experiment’ and just go out with Felix. How’s your family handling this?”

“Mom and Dad are happy for us. Caterina couldn’t believe I could keep a secret—

“That’s because you spill all of hers!”

“Well yeah, and Rose said that Emmett would probably kill me for secretly dating you behind his back.” I noticed how his eyes tightened when he mentioned Rose’s and Emmett’s names.

“Yeah well, I think Em will spare you death.”

“He’ll be lucky if I spare him death.” Jasper muttered. I froze.

“Something tells me you know.”

“That your brother knocked up my sister? Yeah I know.” When he said this, his fists tightened around the steering wheel.

“He swears he used protection,” I defended my brother. “Besides how do you know? Emmett said Rose wasn’t going to tell anyone else.”

“I can read my older sister like a book. I knew she was lying about the migraine—she was giving off a guilty vibe. I made her tell me and she broke down saying she was pregnant, it’s Emmett’s baby. She didn’t want an abortion but how was she going to get through senior year while also being pregnant. I just, oh man. I can’t believe this is happening.”

“Don’t I know it. Emmett told me early this morning. We talked, I gave him some advice. I was the one to tell him Rose shouldn’t be doing any heavy lifting because it may cause harm to the baby so he called and told her to fake being sick so she wouldn’t have to come.”

“Your brother won’t…” he trailed off, taking a side glance at me.

“Won’t what?”

“He won’t leave her alone while she’s pregnant, will he? Emmett will be there for her if they decide to have the baby?”

“Jasper Alessandro Whitlock!” I practically screamed. “Of course my brother will be there for Rose! He wouldn’t do that to her. Emmett loves your sister! You know him. You’ve known Emmett since, well, your whole life!” I replied, affronted that he would actually think my brother would leave Rose and his baby to fend for themselves.

“I’m sorry! I know he will. Emmett’s a good guy. But Rose is my sister so I just have to be sure.”

“Okay. I can see where you’re coming from.”

I was silent for a little while. He turned left and then we were on the outskirts of town.

“So they bought the old Johnson House.” I murmured.

“Yeah. It’s actually a pretty nice place. Mom said it has ‘so much potential’ which is perfect since Mrs. Cullen is an interior designer.” I nodded my head in agreement.

We pulled up in front of the two story house with light peach colored frame trim around an all white house. The garage door was open and there was boxes placed inside. There was a U-haul moving truck parked in the driveway and three cars—which looked pretty expensive but if you asked me I wouldn’t know what type they were.

Jasper and I exited his truck and went up to the front porch. The door was open so we stepped inside. There were boxes here and there but you could tell the house was really beautiful. In plain sight were the front living room and a huge fire place to the left. The stairs to the second story were right there. You could see a hallway that led to the right just before that and beyond the stairs was the kitchen, with a nook area, and a swinging door (which I assumed led off to the dining room).

“Hello!” I called out. “Mr. and Mrs. Cullen?”

“Wonder where they are.” Jasper whispered to me.

I was about to reply when we heard footsteps walking towards us from the hallway. About a second later a girl who looked to be our age walked out. Suddenly I was having a flashback to the two summers ago, when my family went to Italy and I met the Cullen family for the first time. I couldn’t believe my eyes as she walked closer to us.

“I thought I heard someone calling.” She said in a voice I would know almost anywhere. Alice looked from Jasper to me with a smile on her face. When she looked at me her face slipped into a mask of shock—probably the same way my face now looked.

“Bella?” was what came from the dark haired girl with the beautiful green eyes. From my peripheral vision I could see Jasper look from me to her as I nodded in confirmation. I was about to say her name when she crashed into me knocking us both onto the ground. She was hugging me and then she was talking in the only way she could when she was excited—fast.

“Ohmygosh! Ohmygosh! We had no idea you lived here! You never mentioned you lived in Forks. You just said you came from a small town in Washington. We moved here because Mom wanted to come back ‘home’—she’s originally from here. Edward and I thought we wouldn’t know anybody! But here you are!” she looked down at me expectantly.

“Ummm, Alice? For someone so small, you’re kind of hurting me…”

“Ohmygosh! I’m so sorry! I was just so excited to see you!” she trailed off as she quickly got off of me. I got up with her help and I pulled her into a tight hug.

“But it is good—no amazingly wonderful—to see you again! I had no clue. Cullen isn’t a popular Italian name… I didn’t think to connect the pieces…” I heard a throat being cleared behind us and I looked over to see Jasper who was looking very confused between to the two of us. Not that I blamed him. He had never met the Cullen family because his family had not come with ours to Italy two summers ago.

“Jasper, this is Alice Cullen. I met her two summers ago when I went to Italy with out you.” I explained. “And Alice, this is Jasper Whitlock. He’s been my best friend since we were infants.”

He reached over and shook her hand.

“Nice to meet you, Alice.” He threw me a look.

“Pleasure,” she responded, “I heard a lot about you when Bella and I first met.”

“Well you haven’t heard the latest,” Alice turned to look at me. “Jasper is my boyfriend.”

“Really? Ohmygosh! The way you talked about him two years ago he seemed more like a really good friend—almost like a brother.”

“Yeah well, things have changed since then.”

“When did you guys start to date?”

“Actually not that long ago.” Jasper answered.

“Ah, well, Bella! Edward is gonna flip when he finds out that you live here and are going to be showing us around with Jasper today.”

As soon as the words left her mouth, it all made sense to me. It was like the final pieces of the puzzle were connecting.

I had met the Cullens before obviously; Alice, Carlisle, Esme, and—most importantly—Edward.

The guy who kept recurring in my dreams last night with the auburn hair and the dark green eyes—about one shade darker than his twin sister’s eyes. It was Edward. Edward whom I had met first before I met Alice and their parents. Edward who was so nice and kind to me that summer and the following one; who was easy to talk to and hang out with, who showed me around the village he lived in, who immediately knew how to make me laugh and keep me laughing.

I missed him so much when I left Italy. And now he was here in Forks with his family!


	5. The Cullens

_I had met the Cullens before obviously; Alice, Carlisle, Esme, and—most importantly—Edward._

_The guy who kept recurring in my dreams last night with the auburn hair and the dark green eyes—about one shade darker than his twin sister’s eyes. It was Edward. Edward whom I had met first before I met Alice and their parents. Edward who was so nice and kind to me that summer and the following one; who was easy to talk to and hang out with, who showed me around the village he lived in, who immediately knew how to make me laugh and keep me laughing._

_I missed him so much when I left Italy. And now he was here in Forks with his family!_

* * *

 

“Where is Edward?!” I asked excitedly.

“Edward!!” Alice shouted—this threw Jazz off but not me—I was expecting her to do something like this. “Get down here right this instant!” and then there he was at the top of the stairs in front of us. I took all of him in on one glance.

“Alice!” He yelled back down at her. He started descending the steps, as he did I looked at him more closely than before. His bronze hair was in its messy can’t-be-tamed style, as usual. He was wearing dark blue jeans and a light green t-shirt that-as I looked back up towards his face-brought out how dark his green eyes are.

Edward was a little more than half way down when he continued what he was saying from before. “Are you trying to wake the whole neighborhood? What kind of impression would that give our new neighbors?” he finished right as he reached the landing.

“Oh whatever! Look who’s here to show us around.”

Edward looked from his sister to me, his eyes widening when he realized exactly who I was.

“Bella?” he managed to say. Right before I made a really, well, Alice-worthy move (read: totally cringe worthy).

“Edward!” I all but shrieked before I threw myself at him.

Luckily he caught me but I still, somehow, managed to take us both down with a crash to the floor. I looked at him with wide eyes. It wasn’t even silent for a second before he was chuckling. Okay not chuckling, but full out laughing. I glared at him which just made him laugh harder. In the end I just started to laugh with him—realizing how truly funny the scene I made was.

I was dimly aware of the tinkling, bell-like laughter coming from behind us and even the deep bass sounding chuckles. I could feel Edward’s laughter reverberate through his chest. It was then that I realized we were still on the floor, me on top of him, and he was still holding on to me. I blushed but stayed in the same spot that I was in. I didn’t want to move just yet. It was a minute or two later that we managed to all stop laughing.

Edward managed to pull the both of us up—keeping one of his arms around my waist, making sure I was stable before he released me. Almost immediately I felt empty. I missed having his arms wrapped around me.

_Wait! What?_

I was supposed to be going out with Jasper, my—for all intents and purposes—boyfriend. I couldn’t feel this way about Edward while I was “with” Jasper!

I shook my head as I focused on the fact that Edward and Alice Cullen were here in Forks!

Edward let out a chuckle, “Same old Bella.”

“Haha.” I replied in a tone that suggested anything but humor. Okay maybe a little humor. “It’s been too long! How come neither one of you two ever mentioned moving to Forks in your emails?!” I demanded of them.

“Well it’s been really hectic, planning the move and getting everything organized. I don’t know about Edward over there but that’s why my emails have been sort of lacking.” I nodded at her answer. “Anyhow, why didn’t you put it together that we were coming here?” Alice inquired.

“How would I know that?”

“Well, Bella,” Edward spoke up, “Cullen isn’t an Italian surname. Plus you know Carlisle is a surgeon and Esme is an interior designer. And that Alice and I are twins…” he trailed off.

And suddenly everything was so clearly obvious. I should have realized long ago.

“Oh.” I blushed. “I guess it all makes sense when you put it that way.” I mumbled. Then they were all laughing—Edward, Alice, and Jasper. _Traitor,_ I thought as I glared at him.

“Hey!” I huffed. “Still, what are the odds? Especially when two certain people don’t tell me they are moving back to the states!”

They all quieted down.

“We are sorry we didn’t tell you, though, Bella.” Edward hastened to tell me. At least he sounded sincere about it.

“But,” Alice interrupted; she hesitated, her eyes darting over to her brother, “You didn’t tell us that you made it official with Jasper here.”

“I hardly think a person getting a boyfriend is on the same level as moving across the Atlantic and back to the states.” I replied. I tried to be nonchalant about it while also taking a glance at Edward though my peripheral vision. He stiffened at the mention of Jasper becoming my boyfriend and his eyes flashed and seemed to darken. Edward quickly composed himself and raised an eyebrow at me.

“You’re dating your “best friend who’s like a brother to you”?” he questioned. I smiled lightly.

“Umm…yeah.”

Before he could say more, a woman dressed in blue jeans and a white long sleeved Merona tee with black comfy-looking shoes entered the room. She had light caramel colored hair all piled up on top of her head and the same shade of dark green eyes as her son.

“Edward, Alice,” Esme’s beautiful soprano voice rung out. “Have you seen the other box marked Carlisle’s Office?” she asked. But stopped short noticing Jasper and I standing with her children. Recognition flashed in her eyes.

“Esme, I found it. It was behind the desk.” Called a deep, soothing alto voice.

Carlisle Cullen. Like the rest of his family, I would recognize him anywhere. He had a head full of blonde hair and green eyes—a lighter green than his wife and son but just the same shade he shared with his daughter. Carlisle looked more like a movie star that played the role of good looking doctor that the real-life one.

_Those poor nurses at Forks General won’t know what hit them._

Recognition flashed in his eyes too, when he saw me standing there.

“Bella Swan?” he asked. I smiled.

“Oh my goodness, Bella, dear!” Esme exclaimed and immediately came up and wrapped me in a maternal embrace. I hugged her back with just as much fervor. “It’s so good to see you!” she said as she released me. I quickly gave Carlisle a hug as well.

“It’s been too long since we’ve seen you last.” Carlisle stated once he released me.

I smiled at the both of them. I had only spent a summer with the Cullens two years ago and I had been in contact with them—mostly through email since that summer had ended but in that time Alice had become like my sister, Edward and I had grown extremely close, and Carlisle and Esme had become like another set of parents to me.

“It has been too long. I can’t believe that you moved here!”

Esme smiled. “And I can’t believe that out of all the towns and cities in Washington that there are, you are from my own hometown.” She shook her head, smiling.

“Me either.” I replied. I glanced back at Jasper, Edward, and Alice.

“Jasper, this is Carlisle and Esme Cullen.” I said gesturing for him to come forward. “Carlisle, Esme, I would like you to meet Jasper Whitlock, my boyfriend.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Cullen.” Jasper said.

“Oh, it’s very nice to meet you as well, Jasper. But please, call me Esme.” Esme said to him.

“And please, call me Carlisle.” Carlisle chimed in.

“How long have the two of you been dating?” Esme asked curiously.

“We’ve been going out for a couple of weeks now.” I replied.

“Yeah, it’s still new for the both of us.” Jasper replied.

“That’s nice.” Esme replied. Carlisle seemed to sense our discomfort and changed the subject.

“So, Bella, Jasper, I hear you are going to show Edward and Alice around?”

“Yeah, have you guys ever been here?” I turned to look at them.

“Once,” Alice chimed in, “when we were younger, about a year old, to visit our grandma. Haven’t been back since.” She continued.

“Oh, well, nothing’s changed since then.” I replied. _As if anything would change in this town._

“No, I gather not much would change here.” Esme replied with a wistful tone in her voice.

“Bella, Jasper,” Carlisle said, picking up on Esme’s tone, “who are your parents? Maybe Esme knows them from when she lived in Forks.”

“Well, my father is Charlie Swan. My mother is Renata Romano. Though she prefers to go by Renée.” I said.

“Yeah, my parents are Giovanni Whitlock and Bianca Sorrentino.” Jasper spoke up.

Esme smiled.

“I remember them—all four of them! They were all two grades ahead of me in high school. They were all so nice.” Her eyes far way as she remembered her school days.

“Really? What were they like back in high school?” I asked curiously.

“Charlie was so sweet and protective. Not only of Renée. He was always looking after everyone. If someone was getting bullied and picked on Charlie was there, sticking up for that person and making things fair. We used to call him “Chief” because he could hold his own against any of the other guys at school.” she smiled at some memory.

Jasper and I shared a look and chuckled.

“Guess it was meant-to-be then.” He said. I turned to Esme before she could ask.

“My dad is the Chief of Police here in Forks, has been for the past fifteen years.” I smiled. Esme and the rest of them chuckled as they got it.

“That’s wonderful. It definitely suits him well.” Esme said. “Gio”—she surprised us by using Jasper’s dad’s nickname— “was protective of Bianca. He was Charlie’s best friend. They always had each other’s backs. He was the captain of the basketball team—he always led them to victory. I remember he wanted to join the military when he graduated. He did become a marine.” She said looking at Jasper questioningly.

“Yeah after he became a marine he did that for a couple of years. Then he came back and married my mom. He went to college and took over for my grandfather at Kyle, Volturi, and Whitlock Law Firm after he finished law school and got his degree. He did do two separate tours in Iraq though.” He added the last part silently while letting out a slow breath of air.

I sighed remembering those times. Giovanni’s first tour in Iraq happened soon after 9/11. Probably when it was at its worst. His second tour lasted for a little over a year—and that was only two years ago. Giovanni had reenlisted because he felt like he should do this for his country—he owed it to his country to protect people and mostly it was to protect his family.

“Oh.” Esme breathed out. She and Carlisle both placed a hand on Jasper’s shoulder. They were silent but even from where I was standing I could feel their sympathies and comfort they were giving Jasper with just the simple gesture of their hands on his shoulder. Jasper may not show it but both those times were incredibly hard on him and his family.

“So, what about our mothers?” I asked—taking the spotlight off of Jasper and returning it to our parents. I was also wondering what my wonderfully opinionated mother was like back then.

“Ah, Renée and Bianca. They were the popular girls. Though not for having wild parties or being mean Queen Bees. They were nice, caring, and everybody felt welcome with them.” Esme recalled. Well I suppose my mother could be caring—when she wanted to be.

“We were told there would be three families helping us unpack?” Carlisle trailed off.

“Oh yes,” I remembered the Volturi’s did live here, so maybe Esme would remember them. “Do you know the Volturi family?” I directed at Esme.

“Aro, Caius, and Marcus?” I winced at the mention of Marcus. Jasper did too, but really, who could blame us?

“Yeah, well Aro and his wife along with their children are going to be here to help. Caius lives in Seattle but he should be here later in the afternoon along with his wife and their daughter.”

“That’s nice of him—he shouldn’t have to travel all that way.” Esme murmured.

“It’s no problem at all. They all love coming down to Forks every once in a while, to “get away from the city”.” Jasper assured her.

“Well, all right! It is so exciting to get to see everyone again!” Esme said excitedly. I chuckled—it was easy to see where Alice got her enthusiasm from.

“So,” Alice said interrupting, “if the rest of your families are coming at noon, maybe we should head out now.”

“Oh yes, you kids go out and see the town.” Esme said ushering us out the door.

We all had to laugh at her antics.

“Well, come on you guys!” I said working in the enthusiasm into my voice, “There’s not much to see here in Forks but its better to know where everything is without the whole town gawking at you!”

I smiled. I felt quite buoyant—ridiculously happy. I knew it happened to be because of the fact that I was walking next to Edward Cullen. I also knew that that was probably very, very stupid—and it would probably come back to bite me.


	6. Forks

_I smiled. I felt quite buoyant—ridiculously happy. I knew it happened to be because of the fact that I was walking next to Edward Cullen. I also knew that that was probably very, very stupid—and it would probably come back to bite me._

* * *

 

“Bella, it is Saturday—you can’t possibly tell me that the whole town is still asleep.” Alice chided.

“Exactly,” Jasper answered for me, “it is Saturday – naturally most people don’t work and like to sleep in, so the shop owners don’t usually open their businesses until eleven. There are only a few who actually open as early as eight on a Saturday.”

_It would be better for me to rip it off like a band-aid…_

“There’s also not much to choose from around here. If you want to get some “real” shopping done you’d have to travel to Port Angeles…and even then to get more “variety” you’d have to go up to Seattle.”

Alice gasped. I took a glance at her and she looked utterly horrified. Edward, noticing his twin’s distress, immediately sought to reassure her rather than laugh like most boys would do.

“Its okay Al. You can go to Port Angeles and Seattle to shop on the weekends—it’s only a couple of hour’s drive both ways and you can go early because I’m sure they’re not sleeping in at eight am.”

Alice took a couple of deep breaths as she was reassured.

Jasper looked at Alice with raised eyebrows as she calmed down at Edward’s promise.

_Guess he’ll have to figure it out for himself. If Alice wills it, no one escapes from a shopping trip._

He shook his head and turned toward his truck. I laughed and followed after him.

“Come on, you two!” I directed at Edward and Alice. As I got into the passenger side of the truck, they slid into the back.

“Where are we headed to first?” Alice said, slightly bouncing in her seat. If it weren’t for the seat belt that secured her down she would be full out bouncing.

“Well, how about the school?” I questioned.

“Good idea. Edward and I have to know how to get there on Monday.”

“Forks High School, coming up.” Jasper said.

We continued to talk and catch up as Jasper drove. They filled me in on what they’d been up to in the past two years. They seemed hesitant when they started talking about this last year, but they quickly moved on to the move here and once again apologized for their lack of contact.

“It’s okay you guys. I understand. When did, Esme and Carlisle decide to move you all back to the states?”

“About two and half months ago.” Edward answered me.

I nodded, but something was bothering me. I knew what it was. The emails. They didn’t start losing contact with me two and half months ago, they started losing contact with me five months ago. I shrugged and let it go… for now.

Jazz and I would point out the local shops and the park we passed by once we hit the center of the town. The high school was just off the highway and looking from an outsiders’ point of view, I guess nothing but the sign proclaiming:

**_Welcome to Forks High School_ **

**_Home of the Spartans_ **

Gave it away for what it truly was. I was proven right when a second later—after Jazz pulled into the parking lot—Edward asked, “This is the high school?”

“Hmm…It’s different than what we were expecting.” Alice murmured.

“And what were you expecting? Chain link fences and metal detectors?”

Edward and Alice looked at each other, then the school, and back towards Jasper and I.

“Maybe.” They said together. Jasper and I chuckled at them.

“Well you got to admit if it weren’t for the sign nobody would guess that this was a high school.” Edward pointed out.

I smiled because I had just been thinking about that a few minutes ago.

“True.” I agreed.

“Do you still want to get out and take a look around?” I questioned.

“Sure, why not?” Alice said.

* * *

 

All four of us quickly got out and Jasper and I pointed out which building was which and pointed out where the offices (main/attendance/nurses/principal/vice-principal), gym, and cafeteria were. We went around back and showed them the track and field area along with the football and baseball fields.

“You guys have a baseball team?” Edward asked looking at the field.

“Yup, you should try out for the team.” I said encouragingly. Baseball was Edward’s favorite sport. He told me he used to play when he lived in Chicago.

“Eh, I don’t know. It’s been a while since I played.” Edward sighed reluctantly.

“You should, Edward! That would be cool and fun!” Alice encouraged her brother.

“I think you should.” I agreed with Alice. “Maybe you could really help out the team. They haven’t been doing so well in the past couple of years.”

“Bella’s right.” Jasper spoke up. “The baseball team really does need the help. They haven’t won a game in years. If you’re really good I’m sure Coach Clapp would put you on the team in half-a-heart beat.”

“Well, I’ll definitely consider it.” Edward assured us. Alice smiled, satisfied with the promise from her brother.

We were basically done with the tour of the school, so we headed out to show them more of the town.

I believe I heard Alice mutter ‘It’s like a Ghost Town on Saturday mornings.’ But I couldn’t be sure.

We eventually had showed them all around town and given them some information on the townspeople. Who to avoid (such as the crazy cat lady) and who they should make friends with (like the Burks’, a nice elderly couple that made the best macadamia-nut and chocolate-chip cookies a person could imagine).

“Hey have you two been by the hospital yet?” Jasper asked.

“Nope, not yet.” Alice responded.

“You guys wouldn’t mind stopping by there? It would be helpful to know where our dad worked.” Edward commented.

“No problem.” Jasper laughed and headed in the direction of the hospital.

We continued talking about this and that getting to know each other better. The only bad thing about it was that they asked about the two of us more. Well Alice did, Edward was quiet.

“So where did you two go for your first date?”

“Dinner.” “The movies.”

Jasper and I said at the same time.

“The movies.” “Dinner.”

I threw a glance at Jasper.

“So which is it?” Alice asked, looking confused. Even Edward had his eyebrows raised.

“Umm, both.” I said. “We went to dinner then we went to a movie.” I said.

“Oh, where did you go for dinner? Surely not anywhere here?” Alice asked.

I held back a groan. She was just as curious as our friends had been on Friday. I was kind of glad that Edward and Alice would be going to school on Monday that way the focus wouldn’t be on Jasper and me. Then I felt bad because I knew exactly how the students would react to Edward and Alice.

The guys would probably be all over Alice trying to get a date with her. The girls would probably be fighting for Edward’s attention and flirting with him. I frowned at that thought. It bothered me for some reason about the female populations’ reaction to Edward.

The thing is I shouldn’t have been bothered at all by that. Yet I was.

I got back to reality when I heard Alice gushing about how romantic our secret relationship was.

_Guess I’ll have to get filled in by Jasper later…_

* * *

 

All too soon we were headed back towards Edward and Alice’s place.

As we pulled into the drive way, I immediately noticed the cars in the driveway. My parents’ car, the Volturi’s SUV, my brother’s jeep, and Jasper’s parents’ car. Everybody was already inside getting reacquainted with the Cullens. I just hope my mother doesn’t start something while we are here. That would just be the icing on the cake, wouldn’t it?

“Ooh! Bella, Jasper! Is your family here?” Alice questioned, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Jasper took a quick glance at me and saw the worried expression that I had on my face.

“Yup, that would definitely be our families’ cars.” He answered.

Edward seemed to notice and threw me a questioning look.

“What’s the matter?” he whispered to me.

“It’s nothing—okay, it’s just that my mother can be quite… well you’ll just have to meet her. I suppose…” I decided to go for the truth when I saw the “don’t even try to tell me lies Bella Swan because you can’t fool me” look on Edward’s face.

“What’s wrong with your mother?”

“She has her own ideas of what I should be doing with my life. Like whom I should be dating and who I should be going to the homecoming dance with.”

“Okay? Is she trying to force you to go with somebody else that you don’t like?” he questioned.

“Yeah, Felix Volturi. She wants me to go out with him…”

“Oh. But Jasper is your boyfriend and he was your friend first. Can’t she understand that?”

“No, she really can’t.” I sighed.

“Let’s go. You’ll see for yourself.” I commented.

We quickly caught up to Jasper and Alice. The four of us walked into the house together to see…


	7. Reunion

_“What’s wrong with your mother?”_

_“She has her own ideas of what I should be doing with my life. Like whom I should be dating and who I should be going to the homecoming dance with.”_

_“Okay? Is she trying to force you to go with somebody else that you don’t like?” he questioned._

_“Yeah, Felix Volturi. She wants me to go out with him…”_

_“Oh. But Jasper is your boyfriend and he was your friend first. Can’t she understand that?”_

_“No, she really can’t.” I sighed._

_“Let’s go. You’ll see for yourself.” I commented._

_We quickly caught up to Jasper and Alice. The four of us walked into the house together to see…_

Everyone standing around talking and laughing. Guess they were certainly wasting no time in catching up with one another.

I spared a glance at Jasper, Alice, and Edward before looking back at the scene in front of me.

All of the adults were talking and laughing with each other. Olivia and Caterina were off to the side talking while both were taking surreptitious glances at the mirror to see if their hair was mussed in the last five seconds that they looked. Jane and Alec were on the opposite side of the room of their brother, Felix—who was texting on his phone, as usual.

But the one thing that was absolutely unusual about two of the people in the room—and trust me, I knew each person in the room well enough to know their usual behavior—was the distance between my older siblings Emmett and Victoria. It was not only the distance between the two, but the looks that they were giving each other. Emmett and Victoria were glaring at each other while communicating in their own way that didn’t attract the attention of the adults. If they had been using words then they would have definitely been noticed by everyone.

It took me a moment to realize this must have something to do with what Emmett said they were arguing about. For the life of me I could not figure out what they could be arguing about. It must be something big because I have never seen glares filled with such animosity and anger on either of their faces. Let alone directed at one another.

I shook my head and started heading towards Emmett since he was nearer to the door when the adults seemed to realize that the four of us had arrived.

“Oh look the kids are back!” Sulpicia exclaimed. _Great just what we needed._

I glanced back at the rest of my company. Jasper rolled his eyes and went to go stand next to his parents. Edward and Alice shrugged simultaneously and walked up to their own parents with pleasant smiles pasted on to their faces. Following them, I decided I would talk to Emmett and Victoria later. I stood next to my dad, waiting for them to get their introductions to Alice and Edward over with.

“Everyone,” Carlisle started, “these are our twins; Edward and Alice. They are seventeen years old and in the same grade as Jasper, Bella, and I believe Jane and Alec.”

“Edward, Alice.” Esme continued, “This is Giovanni and Bianca Whitlock, Aro and Sulpicia Volturi, and Charlie and Renée Swan.” She indicated each couple.

“Hello! It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Alice exclaimed excitedly while both she and Edward shook everyone’s hands.

“It’s nice to meet you two too.” Sulpicia said.

“What do you mean ‘finally’” Charlie asked.

“Well, Bella has told us so much about you and everyone else!” Alice replied cheerfully.

“Yeah,” Edward continued, “It’s great to finally put the name to a face.” Alice nodded in agreement.

“How long have you known Bella?” Renée asked them.

It was Esme that answered her.

“Oh Edward and Alice met Bella about two years ago when they ran into her in the village we lived in Italy.”

“Yes, such a charming girl she was when we met her. Still is.” Carlisle added.

“Thank-you Carlisle.” I mumbled, already knowing from the heat on my face that I was blushing. I was hoping that it wasn’t tomato red and only a light pink but then I heard Jasper snickering.

_Great, just great._

I looked up and silenced Jasper with a glare. Thankfully nobody was really paying attention to either of us because they were still reeling over the fact that I had already known the Cullens for about two years now.

Jane and Alec were looking at us curiously and Felix had stopped texting and had a confused look on his face. Emmett and Victoria had stopped glaring at each other to look over at us interestedly. Heck, even Olivia and Caterina had stopped looking at themselves in the mirror.

_Great, just great._

“Really?” Renée questioned, looking from Alice and Edward to me then back to them. “You’ve never mentioned…”

“Oh so these are your pen pals from Italy?” Jane cut in. “Wow Bells, you go to Italy and out of all the people to meet and become good friends with you happen to pick the very ones with a parent that all our parents knew back in high school.” Jane chuckled.

Jasper was quick to laugh with her. I glared at him.

“What?” He said between laughs. “You have to admit that it is so like you to do something like that.”

“Wait, I thought you said you didn’t know the new family at lunch on Friday…” Alec trailed off.

“I didn’t connect the dots and… hold on a second, you didn’t even eat lunch with us on Friday. How did you know?” I asked.

“Yes, but you had lunch with Tanya. She’s one of the biggest gossips in the whole school. Everyone knows that.” He replied.

_Ah. That makes so much sense. Tanya can’t keep her mouth shut, so of course everyone will know my business. Especially since she’s gotten particularly vicious in the past couple of weeks._

“Well that explains everything.” _And it did._

“But you’ve still never mentioned it to any of us.” My mother chimed in. _For the most part._

“Umm… well I meant to tell you but after all the excitement after that particular trip, it slipped my mind. But I did tell the others about meeting the Cullens.” I smiled innocently at my mother.

One of her eyebrows was raised and the corners of her mouth twitched slightly down.

_No good. I’ll definitely be hearing about this later once we get home._

_Great, just great._

That seemed to be my catch phrase for the day.

“Well, the important thing is the fact that Bella’s already met Edward and Alice and they will have no problem with getting to know more people at the school. Looks like they’ve gotten to know Jasper well in the short time they’ve known him. It’s a good start for them.” My dad said, his observation skills coming in to good use. Giovanni and Carlisle nodded their heads in agreement while Bianca and Esme both smiled.

Everyone seemed to agree with that and left it.

“So Edward, Alice,” my dad started, “You’ve already met Bella. This is my son, Emmett. And these are my daughters Victoria and Olivia. Emmett and Victoria are in the grade above you in school.”

Emmett, Victoria, and Olivia all shook their hands and welcomed them to Forks. As did Caterina, Jane, Alec, and Felix once they were introduced.

“Well, how about we finish moving the rest of the boxes in and help get everything organized for you?” Aro suggested after all the pleasantries were passed.

“Oh yes, and then we could all go out to the back yard and have a late lunch if that’s fine with everyone. We really appreciate all the help that you guys are giving us.” Esme said.

“That would be wonderful, Esme.” Bianca smiled.

* * *

And so we worked. For the next couple of hours everyone helped move all the remaining boxes into the front rooms and Esme would send them off to the proper rooms that they were to go into. Then we did the same for all the furniture. Once that was taken care of we were all divided into teams and sent off to a certain room to help unpack the best that we could.

I didn’t really mind all of the work. It was good that I wasn’t in a group with Renée. We would have never gotten along well enough. I was in a group with Edward and that made it all the more fun. We had a good time unpacking. Edward was really good at making me laugh.

Something that was quietly observed by Jane.

“You and Edward seem very comfortable with each other.”

“Well, what can I say? I know Edward well enough from all the emails and phone calls and even the couple of times that I have visited him and his family.”

She gave me a peculiar look before shaking her head and continued with the box she was unpacking. I would have let it go if not for that look that she had given me.

I glanced around to see that Edward was helping Olivia and Caterina unpack a box of pictures.

“What was that?” I hissed at her in a whisper.

“What was what?” she asked back.

“The look that you gave me.”

“Bella…” Jane hesitated.

“What?”

“I think Edward likes you.”

“Well yeah. We are friends.” Honestly. _Was that all Jane wanted to say?_

She shook her head at me then looked over at the three others in the room to make sure their attention was otherwise occupied.

“No. I think that Edward likes you likes you.”

“What?!” I shriek whispered.

“Shh!” Jane hissed. “Do you want him to over hear you?”

I took a quick glance. _Nope. Still unloading the pictures._

“You think, Edward likes me—as in more than a friend?”

Jane raised her eyebrows and had a look of assent.

“Yes. Yes I do think that.”


	8. In a Spin

_“You think, Edward likes me—as in more than a friend?”_

_Jane raised her eyebrows and had a look of assent._

_“Yes. Yes, I do think that.”_

* * *

*Beep*Beep*Beep*

My alarm clock was going off. With a start, I realized that it was Monday today. I shook my head as it came out of its dream induced haze. I reached over and slammed my hand down on the button effectively shutting it off.

I knew if I wanted to get in the bathroom first before my sisters I would have to get up now and take it.

But I couldn’t force myself out of bed.

My mind kept on going back to what had happened over the weekend. What Jane had pointed out to me on that Saturday afternoon. I had originally scoffed at the idea that Edward liked me as more than a friend. It was just impossible that he would see me like that. It was also ridiculous to entertain the idea that we could ever be together when I was supposedly dating Jasper.

_But what about after Jasper and I “broke up” once the dance was over and done with?_

NO!

How could I possibly be entertaining these ideas? I probably didn’t get enough sleep last night.

_Yes, that was it. Most surely. Hopefully…_

_When Jasper and I “break up” in a couple of weeks I will still be friends with Edward._

_Just friends. Nothing more._

So why did this make me feel… sad?

It shouldn’t make me feel anything. Edward is my friend. Just like Jasper is.

“What the hell is wrong with me!”

“A lot of things.”

“AHH!”

I screamed and jumped out of my bed.

Unfortunately for me, my clumsiness just had to kick in and I slipped on a t-shirt and landed on my bum.

I looked up and glared weakly at Olivia who was laughing hysterically at me.

“Oh, ha ha.” I said sarcastically while brushing a lock of my mahogany colored hair out of my eyes. “What are you even doing in here?”

“Well, I got up this morning and was surprised to see that I was the first one out of the three of us to use the bathroom. I’m all finished, of course. I thought it would be extremely nice of me to tell you that the bathroom was up for grabs. You know, before Victoria hogs it for herself.”

“That is strangely nice of you. Thanks.” I said, getting up from the floor and reaching over to get my bag of toiletries.

“So… What were you talking to yourself about before I interrupted?”

“That happens to be none of your business.” I replied as I swept past her.

“No fair! You never tell me anything.” Olivia whined.

“That’s because you would go blabbing to anybody who could stand still long enough to talk to them.” I commented over my shoulder.

“Ugh. Whatever.” She scoffed as she stomped down the stairs.

_Little sisters… can’t live with them and can’t live without them._

* * *

Once I was out of the bathroom—and after Victoria roughly pushed passed me and slammed the door shut behind her—I reentered my bedroom and started to gather all of my things for school.

Understandably, my mind was still in a spin over what happened this past weekend.

_Well, nothing did actually happen._

We helped the Cullens unpack all of their belongings. Helped them get settled in. We all had lunch with them.

Sunday… well… Sunday, Carlisle, Edward, and Alice had met the rest of the Volturi Family. And Esme had been reintroduced to them. Including Marcus.

_That wasn’t pretty._

_Not something she had been expecting… No definitely something she had not been expecting of her old friend._

* * *

We had all been gathered at Aro and Sulpicia’s house. It was around five in the early evening. So far all of the Whitlocks were present as was my family. The Cullens had just arrived five minutes ago and they had officially met Rosalie. We were just waiting on Caius and his family to show up as well as Marcus and his family.

I was kind of worried that nobody seemed to explain to any of the Cullens that they shouldn’t stare at Marcus or be so obvious in how they would look at him after they met him.

Well, it wasn’t like he was horribly disfigured or anything. It was just that he was… _broken._

Just then the doorbell rang.

Sulpicia crossed through the living room from the kitchen to answer the door. She first greeted Caius—the middle child of the Volturi brothers—and Athenodora, his wife of twenty years. Then in came Demetri, who was already in college, and Chelsea, who was a year younger than me. Quickly followed by Juliette and Janette, Marcus’ daughters. Followed by Marcus himself.

I quickly looked over to Esme and the rest of her family to judge their reactions at seeing Marcus.

Carlisle looked concerned and confused but he quickly hid it and put on a benign smile. Yet his eyes still held the concern.

Edward and Alice had smiled at the new arrivals. Upon seeing the last man to enter the house their smiles had slipped for a fraction of a second. But you had to hand it to them. Edward and Alice were the masters of the ‘poker face’. They had their smiles back on their faces and acted as if nothing was wrong as they gazed at Marcus.

Their eyes didn’t hold any of the confusion their father’s did… in fact they didn’t seem to be concerned all that much… No, their eyes seemed to hold a different kind of emotion. I stared at them a few seconds longer before my brain seemed to supply that they were looking at Marcus in understanding. But that couldn’t be right. They couldn’t possibly know about Marcus when their own mother didn’t seem to…

Esme’s eyes had widened and a look of worry and concern had flashed over her face as she stared at the man she had known to once be so happy in love and full of life. No, the man she now directed her gaze at looked tired, the lines on his face more predominant with the ancient sadness about him. His eyes, poorly concealing the pain that he was trying to hold back, were the only things that seemed to hold any energy of any sort.

Esme was more of a heart-on-her-sleeve kind of person so, after a few seconds, the concern on her face was still there but not as pronounced as it was when she first saw Marcus.

_Not that anyone would fault her for being concerned._

* * *

I sighed as I made my way down the stairs and towards the kitchen.

It was later that night when Esme was catching up with everyone that she found out exactly what hardships that Marcus had gone through.

* * *

Juliette and Janette had dragged their dad off to go play with them. As he left the room, Esme looked at him in concern.

Caius and Aro noticed at once and sighed.

“You must be wondering about what has become of my youngest brother since the last time you saw him.” Aro stated.

“Quite understandable.” Caius remarked.

“Yes, well, with everything he’s been through in the past six and a half years…” Athenodora trailed off.

“What happened?” Esme asked gently.

Sulpicia sighed, “You of course know that Marcus married his high school sweetheart, Didyme O’Hara?” at this Esme nodded. “Well, to make a long story short… six years ago, when Juliette was four, Didyme was pregnant with their second child. Janette. Marcus and Didyme had decided to go on an evening drive and leave Juliette with Caius and Athenodora.”

“Didyme never came back from that drive.” Athenodora continued, “Some very foolish teenager thought it would be fun to take his father’s car for a spin. While he was drunk. Didyme had to be rushed to the hospital. Janette was born three months early through c-section.”

“Unfortunately,” Caius said, running a hand over his face, “there was nothing they could do for Didyme. She had slipped into a coma and she was unresponsive. Marcus was in denial for months. He didn’t want to believe and he definitely didn’t want to be the one to have to pull the plug as the doctors had suggested to him only a week after the accident.”

“And really it wasn’t his fault that Marcus went into a manic rage at them. His wife was in a coma; his newborn daughter was in an incubator. He didn’t know if either would live. He’s better now than he was six years ago.” Aro stated, “He’s even better now than he was two years ago. But, I think that no matter how many years go by… Marcus is always going to be broken. Didyme was the light of his life. The love of his existence.”

“Having Juliette and Janette around does help him. Especially with them not only being spitting images of Didyme, but also them having her caring, playful, and generous nature as well. The pain and sadness only ever really leaves him is if he is with his girls.” Bianca admitted.

* * *

I made my way into the kitchen as these thoughts of Edward and Jasper spun around in my head along with my thoughts on Marcus and Didyme.

By the time I heard the familiar honking of Jasper’s truck, I was thoroughly depressed.

And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Monday morning.


	9. Monday Morning

_I made my way into the kitchen as these thoughts of Edward and Jasper spun around in my head along with my thoughts on Marcus and Didyme._

_By the time I heard the familiar honking of Jasper’s truck, I was thoroughly depressed._

_And it had nothing to do with the fact that it was a Monday morning._

* * *

“Just what do they think they’re doing?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

I quickly glanced around and noticed that we had already made it to school and Jasper had just pulled into our usual parking space.

“Bella…” Jasper trailed off, shaking his head. “What’s wrong? You’ve been really quiet this morning.”

_Naturally I couldn’t just keep my mouth shut._

“I’m just worried about how Edward and Alice are going to handle their first day here. I just hope that they don’t get so overwhelmed by the fact that everyone is going to be staring at them or coming up to them and sucking up to them and possibly drooling over them.”

_Well, at least I didn’t just blurt out that I was attracted to Edward and that I wanted to date him, even though I was dating Jasper. Well, fake-dating Jasper._

Jasper scrunched his eyebrows together, “Drooling?”

“Yes, you know, Tanya will be all over Edward and Alice is very pretty. No doubt the guys will be asking her out.”

Jasper chuckled… obviously picturing Tanya, leading the pack of girls that would be, trailing after Edward with drool hanging out of her mouth.

“Huh… usually I would say you have nothing to worry about. But your theories seem to have a good foundation. This is Forks High. They will be all over the new kids. That will sadly include all of our friends.”

I cocked my head to the side. Why did that include all of our friends?

As if sensing my silent question, Jasper pointed out my side window.

“What do they think they’re doing?” I exclaimed.

It wasn’t unusual in our school to see our classmates waiting in front of the school for their friends or for them to be hanging out in the parking lot by their cars. What was unusual was to see that practically the whole school was waiting around acting like they were waiting for their friends to come and join them. What was even more unusual was to see our group of friends waiting in the front of the school with them. We had long since established that we would meet up near our lockers because, amazingly enough, we all had lockers in the same building.

Plus it was Forks. Why wait out in the rain when we could be nice and dry inside?

“That’s what I said. But it’s pretty obvious don’t you think? They want a glimpse of Edward and Alice. We always meet up at our lockers but today… I think it’s safe to say that nobody here at Forks High will make it as an actor or an actress. Look at them. They keep blatantly looking at the road every time they hear a car pass by and they seem disappointed whenever that car just keeps on going.” Jasper shook his head.

“Too right you are. Subtlety thy name is not. I can’t believe our friends are doing this too! Oh well, aren’t they going to be extremely embarrassed, along with the rest of the school, when they figure out Edward and Alice are already here. Probably long before any of them.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Look over there on the other end of the student parking lot.”

Jasper laughed, Edward’s silver Volvo was inconspicuously parked right outside the attendance office.

“Come on; let’s go see if they’re still in the office. We can find out if we have any classes with them.”

“Good idea… although…” I trailed off, looking at our friends as well as the rest of the school.

“Let’s go Bella. We can make fun of them later. Or better yet, when they’re running into class – out of breath—barely making it before the bell rings.”

“What makes you think they’ll get there before the bell rings?” I asked as I opened my door and stepped out; well, tripped really would be the better word.

“Our friends aren’t that oblivious.” Jasper chuckled as he stepped out of the car. He glanced over to where said friends were standing. “I hope…” he muttered.

* * *

By the time lunch rolled around, I was about ready to bash my head into a wall. Repeatedly.

We had easily found Edward and Alice in the attendance office. They had long since gotten their schedules and school maps and the only reason they were sticking around was definitely not by choice. Mrs. Cope was talking their ears off. Asking about Italy, how they liked being back in America, how they liked Forks, were they excited about school, etc. etc.

I was pretty sure that with the way she kept blinking, something must have gotten into her eyes. I was about to mention it to her when I realized she just kept blinking at Edward. It had barely dawned on me that she was trying to flirt with him! After that realization it was all I could do not to burst out laughing.

After we were safely out of the attendance office I had no such restrictions.

True to Jasper’s prediction our friends made it to first period just seconds before the final bell.

And we did laugh at the looks on their faces when they saw that the Cullen twins definitely did come to school today.

But that was where the fun had ended.

Because true to my prediction as soon as the guys of Forks High saw Alice they were all _staring_ at her. And they couldn’t be bothered to look away when she caught them. Even the guys who already had girlfriends.

Said girlfriends, along with many other girls in the school, had taken to _glaring_ at Alice… that is to say when they weren’t _ogling_ at Edward.

Also true to my prediction. As soon as Tanya had laid her eyes on Edward she had made it a point to get as much attention from him as possible.


	10. Clashing Sisters

_Also true to my prediction. As soon as Tanya had laid her eyes on Edward she had made it a point to get as much attention from him as possible._

* * *

Tanya walked straight up to the four of us without even looking at me—or Alice for that matter.

“Hey Jasper, how are you?” Not even waiting for him to reply she continued, “Oh, hello! You must be Edward Cullen. I’m Tanya Denali. I’m so pleased to meet you. I hope that you like Forks.”

She said this in a low pitched voice. I guess she was trying to sound attractive… I know that I wanted to laugh so badly. It sounded like she had a really horrible cold. And yet, at the same moment, I had the urge to throw my English textbook at her head to chase her away.

“Hello and yes I am. It’s nice to meet you, Tanya. This is my sister, Alice.” Edward greeted.

“Hi!” Alice said bouncing on the balls of her feet. “It’s nice to meet you!”

Tanya barely spared a look at her. She stepped closer to Edward and placed her hand on Edward’s forearm.

“Very. So Edward, I was wondering if we could hang out at lunch. You know to get to know each other. You could tell me about Italy and I could tell you more about Forks?”

It was taking all of my self control not to attack her. I couldn’t believe she was actually being this forward with Edward. When she was pursuing Jasper she had remained silent and in the shadows. Well except for when we all found out. But even then nobody had realized the object of her obsession was Jasper.

_What was she playing at?_

Thankfully Edward did something about her before I could.

Edward gently removed her arm from his person and took a step back.

“Actually, Tanya,” Edward said smoothly while looking apologetic, “Bella and Jasper have offered to sit with _my sister_ and I at lunch. Perhaps another time.”

“Oh well,” but before she could say anything further, Alice interrupted her.

“It was nice meeting you, Tanya, but we really have to get to class. Buh-bye!”

If only Tanya could have left it at that.

Of course, I should have known Tanya wouldn’t leave it at that. It’s Tanya, for crying out loud!

_But then again, I was basing everything off of when she pursued Jasper._

“Hello Edward!”

Almost the whole table looked up to see Tanya standing there looking at Edward.

“Umm… Hello Tanya.” Edward looked up at her questioningly.

“Tanya, what are you doing over here?” Kate said fixing her gaze on her sister.

“Can’t I come over here and see how everyone is doing?” Tanya replied not looking up at her sister.

“Sure. But you usually don’t.” Kate answered. “Not unless you’re here to brag about yourself or spread some gossip that you know that no one else does.” Kate muttered this quietly enough so that only Jasper, Angela, and I heard.

In her usual fashion, Tanya ignored her sister and started chatting up Edward.

“So Edward, how do you like your classes so far?” she said taking a seat.

Edward through a quick glance at his sister before replying, “I like my classes well enough, thanks for asking.”

“Oh, well–

“I’m really enjoying my classes so far as well.” Alice quickly jumped in to say.

“That’s nice.” Tanya said. “So—

“Although, I’m not sure how I like all the staring we were getting today. Even kids who were sitting in front of us managed to look at us all throughout the class.”

“Oh don’t worry. All of this will blow over soon enough.” Angela told Alice kindly.

“Yeah, right now you guys are the shiny new toys that everyone wants to look at.” Kate said pointedly looking at her sister.

I snorted quietly. This was definitely how Tanya and Kate operated. Making jabs at, ignoring, and outright fighting with each other. It was kind of sad in a way. They were sisters, they should have been close. Kate knew her sister didn’t like her. It was hard for her at first—she hadn’t understood what it was that she was supposed to have done. It wasn’t long before she found out about the crush that Alec had on her and how he rejected Tanya because of it. Kate tried to confront her sister on it but Tanya refused to listen to her. Of course Kate hadn’t ever blamed Alec. Not even a little bit. He couldn’t have helped what he felt then and Kate was not stupid enough to hold it against him.

Tanya, on the other hand, was stupid enough to hold it against the both of them and Jane.

I couldn’t imagine acting like this with either Victoria or Olivia. Yes, we got on each other’s nerves. Yes, we fought over the bathroom. Yes, we fought over clothes and jewelry and make-up. But we never acted like Tanya and Kate.

I sighed and shook my head.

* * *

“Excuse me!” a voice near me shouted. Thinking somebody had been trying to talk to me while I spaced out, I raised my head with an apology ready.

Only for it to die on my lips as I took in what was happening around me.

For there, standing in the center aisle of the cafeteria was Tanya and Kate, both looking about ready to tackle the other to the ground.

“You heard me, _sister dear_ ,” Tanya said in an overly sweet voice.

“No, I don’t think I did. Would you care to repeat yourself _big sister_?” Kate replied in just as sugary sweet a voice.

I quickly looked to Jasper to see if he could shed some light on what I had missed while I spaced out but he wasn’t even looking at me. He was more concentrated on Kate and Tanya.

_Probably wondering if he should intervene sometime soon…_

It was then that I realized it wasn’t only our table that was quiet and focused on the clashing sisters. A quick glance around the room showed that every student and the cafeteria staff (two elderly women who had been working here at the school for forever) had all stopped in their activities to watch the two.

Only one face really stood out to me in that moment. The tearful face of an under classmen. A freshman by the name of Irina Denali. Of course all the fighting that Tanya and Kate did effected Irina the most because when they weren’t fighting at school, they were definitely fighting at home.

“I said you should keep out of my personal business and stop trying to steal away all the boys. It’s a wonder how anyone can be your friend when you’re probably trying to plot on how to steal their boyfriends from them!” Tanya shouted.

_Well this isn’t going to end well. Not at all. Any second now the principal is going to walk in here and see the fight going on between these two and it will all end with the both of them in trouble for “disturbing the lunchtime peace”._

“How dare you even say something like that to me! I would never—

“Oh you wouldn’t would you? You’ve done it before! And to me of all people!”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never stolen anyone’s boyfriend, least of all yours!”

“I’m talking about Alec! You took him from me!”

“I did no such thing. In any case you weren’t even dating him! You had a crush on him! He asked me out but I told him no because I knew you liked him.”

“Oh sure, a likely story!”

“It’s not a story, it’s what happened – the truth!”

As I looked at Tanya and Kate, all I could see was Irina’s upset face in my mind. All I could think was for somebody to do something. Anything really—

*SMACK*

Just not that. Anything but that.

All that could be seen from Kate’s face was shock, pure shock, as she raised a hand to the cheek that Tanya just back handed.

If the cafeteria and its occupants had been silent before it was nothing compared to the dead silence that filled it now. Some people looked stunned and unsure of what to do; others were leaning forwards in their seats as if hoping a fight would break out. Kate’s fingers tenderly touched the reddened skin where the eldest Denali’s hand had made contact. Her hazel green eyes narrowed as she looked at Tanya.

Tanya for her part had been looking smug; as if her sister’s lack of action proved she was not going to do anything in retaliation. Her own light blue eyes widened as Kate’s eyes narrowed.

“It’s just now become painfully clear to me that I should probably stop hoping to reason with you with words. I’ll never be able to because you won’t take the time to listen. You’ve also made it painfully clear that you hate me so much for something I had no control over, that we can never go back to having the bond we once shared. We never can. So I’m only going to tell you this once. For the past two years you considered me to be an enemy—no longer your sister and now, I no longer consider you to be my sister.”

Kate’s voice—which was normally so warm, open and friendly—came out cold, closed and devoid of any emotion. Her hand had slowly fallen from her cheek. She looked away from Tanya to her right. Kate then redirected her attention back to the older girl and continued.

“Oh and Tanya? Here’s one last parting gift before I go.” And before anyone could react, Kate’s hand had shot out, not to Tanya but to the right, scooping up the bowl of mashed potatoes and gravy in front of some fellow upper classmen, and promptly upended it on Tanya’s head.

The whole of the cafeteria seemed to gasp as one.

Then chaos rained down.

“FOOD FIGHT!”

And just like that the students of Forks High’s lunches went flying.

Taking a quick glance back to the start of this whole fight, I could now see both Tanya and Kate grabbing any and everything they could find to throw at each other.

_Food wise of course. They hadn’t started throwing chairs… yet…_

It was as I looked back over to the others that I could see I wasn’t the only one not participating in the otherwise school-wide showdown.

“Bella! Go do something!” Angela said frantically, causing our friends to look from me to her.

“What do you expect me to do? Go get the principal and the teachers? I’m sure the cafeteria staff has already called them and they’re on their way down.”

“No, I meant, go do something about Irina!” Angela said pointing over at the youngest Denali.

My heart was breaking at the sight. She was still sat in her seat near the doors, staring at the fighting Tanya and Kate with tears running down her face. She didn’t look like she was going to stop anytime soon. Her friends had long since abandoned her to join in on the fight. Obviously not caring that the cause of the food fight was the final break in her sisters’ relationship.

“I’m going to kill them.” I muttered as I scraped back my chair.

“Bella?” I didn’t bother to reply as I stood, grabbing the huge bottles of Gatorade that were sat in front of Mike and Tyler. Opening them, I tossed the caps off to the side. Taking one in each hand, I ignored the calls of my friends as I walked away.

Thankfully, Tanya and Kate had made my job easy seeing as they were still standing where they started it all. Careful not to be hit in any of the oncoming fire I called out to them.

“TANYA ALYONA DENALI AND KATIA LIZAVETA DENALI!”

At the sound of their full names both girls stopped and turned around to see who called them from their fight. They caught sight of me and together shouted, “WHAT!”

“The next time the two of you feel the need to let out your anger at the other, do it somewhere private and definitely not in front of your little sister.” With that I took a step forward and dumped the Gatorade all over the both of them.

Spluttering, Kate stammered out, “Bella—

“No Kate! I’m sorry I had to do that to you but the both of you should be ashamed of fighting like this. Especially with Irina around. She loves the both of you and all she does is see you two fight.” I huffed, shaking my head, easily stepping around them and making my way towards where Irina still sat.

Needless to say that once I reached her I was surprised I had not been hit with food or tripped in the mess coating the floor.

_Specifically concerning how clumsy I am…_

Crouching down, I squeezed Irina’s shoulder with my left hand and steadied myself with the other on the table.

“Irina? Irina, look at me.” It took a few more calls before she finally turned her tear-stained face to me.

“Come on, let’s go.” I murmured, taking her bag off the floor and leading her out the doors.

* * *

Once outside, I had to quickly pull Irina around the side of the building as the sound of rushing footsteps penetrated my ears. We stood still as we heard Principal Greene and a few of the teachers shouting for order. Glancing around and making sure no more teachers were coming to help in the cafeteria, I tugged on Irina’s hand quickly going into the nearest building which happened to be the language department. Pulling her into one of the unused classrooms towards the back of the building, I set her backpack by the door and helped her into a chair.

I wanted to talk to her but honestly, I didn’t know what to say. I kind of wished Jasper where here to help. Grabbing a chair, I sat down next to her and held her hand.

“Irina, I honestly don’t know what to say. I’m sorry you had to see your sisters fighting that way…” I trailed off.

Taking a proper look at Irina, I was once again struck by how much she looked like both Tanya and Kate. The Denali girls all shared the same facial features that they inherited from their mother; prominent cheek bones, thin nose, full lips, dimples. The differences were there of course. While Tanya had curly strawberry blonde hair, Kate had straight golden blonde hair. Irina had straight strawberry blonde hair. While Tanya had light blue eyes, Kate had hazel green eyes. Irina was born with heterochromia iridum—meaning she had two different colored eyes; her left was light blue while her right was hazel green.

“I just wish they would stop fighting!” startled by the sudden anger in her voice, I promptly fell out of my seat and onto the floor.

Irina jumped out of her seat and started pacing and yelling. Feeling like it would be best just to let her get it out of her system I sat in silence, just listening.

It was around fifteen minutes after she had started yelling that Irina crumpled to the floor, bawling her eyes out. I carefully made my way over to and held her as she cried.

One thing was for sure. Both Tanya and Kate were going to get an earful from me.

I didn’t care if I had to strap both of them down to do so. Being that Tanya hated me and I was no fan of her either, I could not care less about what she thought.

Kate on the other hand was my friend. One of my best friends at that. I had hoped that she would have just walked away after she said her piece to Tanya. Though, to be fair, you could only take someone that you truly care about hating you to an extent, you could only take so much of it. Kate had been dealing with this for almost two years now.

I sighed while trying to calm down Irina.

There once was a time when the three Denali sisters were closer than ever. Now their sisterhood bond seemed irreparable.

And to think this morning all I was worried about was the fact that I was majorly attracted to Edward Cullen when I happened to be fake-dating my best friend, Jasper.


	11. Chemistry

_There once was a time when the three Denali sisters were closer than ever. Now their sisterhood bond seemed irreparable._

_And to think this morning all I was worried about was the fact that I was majorly attracted to Edward Cullen when I happened to be fake-dating my best friend, Jasper._

* * *

“I’m kind of surprised you actually made it all the way out of the cafeteria without getting hit by any of the oncoming food…”

_Speaking of Edward Cullen and being majorly attracted to him…_

“You know, especially considering how clumsy you are.”

_Ah… it seems I forgot how much he loves to tease me about how I can’t ‘walk properly’._

“If we’re being honest, then yes, I was surprised too.” I replied turning towards him. After a quick evaluation of his clothes I said: “It seems you made it out of there with no new accessories to your wardrobe.”

Edward chuckled, “As soon as you left with the younger sister, the principal and a few teachers came running through. The food fight was stopped almost immediately. Well, only after Principal Greene got a face full of spaghetti…”

I couldn’t help it, I laughed loudly.

“Are you serious? I missed that?” I managed to wheeze out. Edward nodded his head while looking at me in amusement. It was another couple of minutes before I was able to get my laughter in control.

“What happened after that?”

“Ah, well, everyone pretty much stopped what they were doing when they saw the principal’s head covered in spaghetti sauce and noodles. Mr. Greene wanted to know who started the fight, why no one saw fit to call for help, and of course who threw the food at him.” Edward answered. “No one fessed up to the last one, of course.” He added in afterthought.

“And the first one?” I whispered, biting my lip.

Edward looked at me cautiously before replying.

“Everyone kind of just looked over at Tanya and Kate… Mr. Greene easily put it together and told them both to head down to his office. Kate left without a word but Tanya tried to protest. Mr. Greene didn’t really like that and told her she was already in enough trouble.”

“What happened with the rest of the students?”

“The teachers told everyone to stay where they were. Then they went around the room trying to find out who was involved and who had to be sent home to change. Anyone who wasn’t involved in the food fight and their clothes were food free were sent off to their classes. The majority of the school is still in the cafeteria.”

I sighed. “Well, it’s not like you can say this wasn’t an interesting first day at Forks High.”

“Too true.” Edward mused. “Girls ogling me while glaring at my sister and guys glaring at me while staring at my sister. Then to top it all off there’s a food fight. Can’t wait to tell mom and dad.” His gaze fell on me and I could see the mischief in his eyes as his mouth quirked upward in my favorite crooked smile. “Of course, I’ll have to tell them my favorite part was when you grabbed the Gatorade bottles and upended the contents all over Tanya and Kate…”

My mouth dropped open in slight shock.

“You’re not really going to tell Carlisle and Esme!” I exclaimed.

Edward burst out laughing.

“Are you?”

He continued laughing.

“Edward! You cannot tell them I did that! Edward!”

“Bella!” His laughter was barely subsiding. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell my parents. I was only teasing.” Edward assured me.

My eyes narrowed as I took in his grinning face, “You were laughing because?”

“You should have seen the expression on your face when you thought I was going to tell my parents. Priceless!”

“Pr-pri-pr-priceless! Well, well, humph!” I spluttered turning away from him.

It was then that I realized that we were the only ones in the class. Not even Mr. Banner was in the room with us. Everyone must still be in the cafeteria… and just like that I was suddenly hyperaware of him sitting next to me. Sure I knew he was sitting next me in the first place but I had sort of pushed it out of my head when I was trying to find out about what had happened after Irina and I had escaped. Now, well, now it was like I could feel a current of electricity running between the two of us. If I didn’t back up this second it was highly possible that I would do something very stupid—completely and utterly stupid.

Moreover, Edward wasn’t helping things one bit.

He moved in slightly closer while resting his left arm on the back of my chair and he leaned his weight onto his right arm, using the tabletop for support.

“Aww… come on Bella. I was only teasing. I wouldn’t have told mom or dad. Promise!” Edward said, trying to get me to look at him.

“Mm-hmm. Yeah, like I’ll really believe that.” I muttered while still looking away from him.

On the inside I was, unsurprisingly, giving myself a stern talking to…

…Okay it was more like a pathetic pep talk…

…Which, you know, just turned into an internal panic attack…

_Just don’t look at him Bella. Take a deep breath. That’s it! Now all you have to do is turn around. You can have a normal conversation with the Edward. No big deal. What’s the worst that could happen? Stupid question! I would probably end up doing something to jeopardize my ‘relationship’ with Jasper. Naturally I’d have to tell Jazz about anything that would have occurred and then in reaction he’d probably be on bad terms with Edward – all to keep up with this charade. Or… I could tell him about this being a fake relationship… Edward would think I’m absolutely crazy for doing something like this just to get out of going to Homecoming._

“Bella! Anybody in there?” Edward’s voice broke through my thoughts.

“Huh?” I blinked a couple of times in succession noticing Edward’s hand waving back and forth in front of my face.

“Spacing out again, Bella?”

“That was one time!” I exclaimed as he burst into laughter.

Taking a moment to commit the sound of his laughter and compare it to the last time I heard it, I said, “Well if you must know, I was contemplating on whether or not I should speak with you, should you, you know, tell Carlisle and Esme about the Gatorade incident.”

“Relax Bella! I won’t tell mom and dad what you did.”

“Good.”

“I probably wouldn’t even get the chance anyway. Alice somehow always gets the information to my parents faster than I do.”

I groaned as I leaned forward and rested my head against the cool surface of the table.

_How could I have honestly forgotten about Alice? It was because of her that Carlisle and Esme had even known about mine and Edwards’s friendship before he could even introduce me to them. Heck, I hadn’t even met Alice yet at that time. If her dream hadn’t been to become a world famous fashion designer then I would personally try to get her to be an international super spy._

_And now he’s laughing at me again._

“Edward! Stop laughing!” I commanded.

“I really can’t help it Bella—you’re quite hilarious.”

“I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed the show.” I muttered sarcastically. “Would you like an encore?” I asked rhetorically.

Edward smirked as he replied “Well, if you insist…”

We stared each other in the eye for all of a few seconds before we both burst into laughter.

After a couple of minutes he asked, “Why are we laughing?”

Regaining control of my giggles, I replied, “Honestly? I have not a clue. But it is your fault.”

“My fault? My fault!” Edward exclaimed in mock outrage. “You, Isabella Marie Swan, who provides good entertainment causing all those to laugh themselves silly and me, Edward Anthony Cullen, an innocent member of the audience who greatly appreciates your sense of humor. And it’s my fault! Well!” and with that he turned away from me but not before I saw the smile threatening to overtake his features.

“Edward?”

“Yes Bella?”

“I think Alice was right.” I smirked as he started to turn back towards me. “You are such a Drama Queen!”

He spluttered for a few moments before he held his head high and said in his most dignified voice, “I’ll have you know that’s King to you, fair lady.”

With that we had burst into laughter once more. This, you know, is actually how Mr. Banner had found us just a couple of minutes later.

* * *

A throat clearing in the doorway alerted us to the fact that we had company. Looking up we watched as Mr. Banner strode into the room.

“I’ll be brief,” he started without preamble, “It’s good to see you two getting along as nicely as the two of you will now be lab partners. We won’t have class today because of the catastrophe in the cafeteria. Edward, you and your sister as well as everyone at your table was not involved in the fight and are not being punished. Bella, Jasper informed me that you had already finished your lunch and went to get something from your locker before the fight had even started so you will not be punished. With that being said, Bella, if you could tell Edward where we are in the class and catch him up that would be great. I have to head back to the cafeteria now. When the bell rings just head to your next class. We should hopefully have everything under control by then.” Mr. Banner finished.

“Umm, thanks sir. And don’t worry I’ll get Edward up to date on what we’re learning.” He nodded at the both of us, wished us a good day and quickly left the room.

“I wonder how I’m not going to be in trouble when one; Tanya or Kate will mention it was me who spilled a sports beverage all over them… it’ll probably be Tanya and two; my bag isn’t even here! I left it in the cafeteria…”

Edward turned towards me again with his left eyebrow raised.

“What?” I asked.

He then began to smirk that crooked smile of his, “Bella,” he pointed downwards in the space between our lab stools. I looked down and felt myself start to blush. Resting there was not only his school bag but mine as well. “You really are oblivious.”

“Yeah, well, yeah…” I trailed off.

_Real smooth Swan._

“Huh, I’d forgotten how deeply you blush…”

“Thanks Edward. My day would not have been complete had you not told me I look like a bright red tomato.”

“I never said you look like a tomato.”

“Same thing.”

“If you say so.”

I sighed before turning serious, “Thank-you for bringing my bag along with you.”

“No problem. Now, why don’t you tell me exactly where the class is at and what labs you’re currently working on?”

It really didn’t take long to explain everything to Edward. He was really intelligent. After we went through it all we continued talking and soon resorted to playing twenty questions to help us catch up on all we missed in the last two years.

* * *

Edward shook his head at the memory. He turned towards me and asked, “So then, what’s your favorite bird?”

I blinked once – then twice.

“Hummingbird.” I stuttered out. “For no other reason than I like the way they fly around.”

Edward raised his eyebrows, a light smile on his face.

“We can’t all have meaningful stories to go with why we like or dislike something.” I grumbled.

Edward looked like he was restraining his laughter at me once again. I sighed, “Go ahead and laugh.”

He did.

* * *

Just then the bell rang signaling it was time for the next class.

I stooped down to pick up my bag from the floor when I noticed it was gone. I heard more chuckling from above me and when I looked, Edward had both his and my school bag in his hands.

“Bella, you really are oblivious aren’t you? I was just teasing before but now…”

“I am not oblivious! You’re just too fast and too sneaky! How do you do that?”

“It’s a gift.” He said while I grabbed my bag from him and slung it over my shoulder.

“We better get going, we have Gym next.”

“Do you think the teachers have already gotten everything sorted?” Edward asked looking around. He sounded slightly doubtful and I could see why: There were maybe about twenty or so students milling about in the hall. When we got outside there seemed to be the same amount going around as well.

“Edward! Bella!”

We turned around to see Alice practically dancing towards us with Jasper walking at a slower pace just behind her.

_Well, doesn’t he just look amused…_

“Hey! How are you?” she directed at me.

I could see the concern in her eyes and immediately my thoughts went to what had happened at lunch. Shaking my head to focus, I smiled and reassured her that I was fine.

Alice smiled but I could tell she didn’t believe me. She then turned and started to talk Edward’s ear off about how she had US History with Jazz and was currently telling him about how he was getting her all caught up in the finer aspects of certain dates and events when Jasper put his arm around my shoulders.

Leaning in and closely, to ensure that the Cullens wouldn’t overhear, he whispered, “How is she?”

I sighed.

“Well, after her burst of rage at her sisters, she had a subsequent breakdown. After that, I asked her if she was going to stay at school or if she wanted to go home. She chose to go to the nurse’s office instead and she’s going to catch a ride home with us. Irina said there was no way she was going to be stuck in a car with her sisters after what happened. So yeah, I offered her a ride.”

Inwardly cringing because I was basically telling him what to do, I quickly glanced at Jazz’s face. Instead of being irritated or anything like that he looked to be distracted by his thoughts and just nodded his head in agreement.

* * *

“How was working with Edward today?”

It was after school. Gym had gone okay – only because more than half of our class had been sent home early. Really, there was no point coming back to school with only one period left. When school was finished we said goodbye to our friends including Edward and Alice and then we quickly found Irina and gave her a ride home.

Looking up from the essay I was working on, I saw Jane staring at me with her head tilted to the side. She had called and asked to come over to get help with her essay but mainly she just wanted to get away from Felix. Alec had escaped – I mean had to work on a project with his Chem partner and chose to do that at the town library. Quickly looking down at my work I muttered, “Fine.”

In truth, I had known that the smaller brunette had been giving me that contemplative look for the past twenty minutes or so but I was hoping that she would not ask anything and let me work on my essay… that was due tomorrow.

“Hmmm…” Jane trailed off. She sighed and I ignored her for the next couple of minutes before she sighed again.

Pushing my essay away from me, I turned towards her again and arched my eyebrow.

“Yes, Jane, Is there something I could help you with?”

“Oh it’s nothing really. I just, you know, wanted to know why you’re so… keen… on not discussing Edward with me.” Jane stated more than questioned.

“Well what do you expect me to say? We spent the whole of Chem class just talking and catching up. Nothing worth mentioning… happened…” I trailed off. My mind instantly went back to Edward going over our conversations and that unexplainable feeling that I got when we were close. That strange magnetic current I felt between our bodies.

Jane snorted, “Yeah, nothing happened.”

“Nothing did happen! We just talked! Did you forget that I’m dating Jasper? He happens to be my boyfriend so I would appreciate you not insinuating that there is more going on between Edward and me than just friendship!”

Jane looked at me for a long minute her face closing off from all emotion.

_Fantastic! What did I just do now?_

“I didn’t say that there was anything going on with you and Edward. I know you’re dating Jasper. I also know you would never do anything to hurt Jasper. I was merely asking how everything went today because of what we talked about on Saturday afternoon. You know about Edward possibly having a crush on you. I wasn’t the one, Bella, who said anything more than friendship happened between you and him. I wasn’t the one who brought any of that up. I was going to ask if my guess was wrong – if I was just over-analyzing things.

“Maybe Edward doesn’t like you as more than a friend. You, on the other hand, probably feel more than you should for Edward. Considering how defensive you got when I asked about how it was working with him today.”

With that Jane stood up and started gathering her things. Before I could ask where she was going she had already walked out of my room, she was about to shut my door behind her when –

“You’re right.”

“What?” She looked back at me quizzically.

I sighed. _What the hell am I doing? I can’t just say I like Edward when I am dating Jasper._

_You can if you want to keep Jane from leaving and being mad at you._

I got up and walked over to Jane pulling on her arm to bring her back into my room. Taking a glance around the hall, I noted that neither of my sisters was around. I quickly closed my door and locked it. I then went and slumped dejectedly on one of my bean bags, while Jane had set down her stuff and took a seat on one of the other two across from me.

“I don’t know if Edward likes me as more than a friend or not. You were right, I feel way more than I should for him. I’ve always liked him. But this is different, stronger than before. It’s not a simple crush. It’s more than just attraction. I might possibly…”

Near me there was a gasp that came from Jane as she no doubt figured out what I had been trying not to think about since the Cullens came back into my life.

_Holy Crow! I think I’m in love with Edward Cullen!_


End file.
